Sample records for nuclear plant environments

The question of nuclear power plants is analysed in details. The fundamental principles of reactors are described as well as the problems of safety involved with the reactor operation and the quantity and type of radioactive released to the environment. It shows that the amount of radioactive is very long. The reactor accidents has occurred, as three mile island, are also analysed. (M.I.A.)

In the design and operation of nuclear power plants, the visualization process inherent in virtual environments (VE) allows for abstract design concepts to be made concrete and simulated without using a physical mock-up. This helps reduce the time and effort required to design and understand the system, thus providing the design team with a less complicated arrangement. Also, the outcome of human interactions with the components and system can be minimized through various testing of scenarios in real-time without the threat of injury to the user or damage to the equipment. If implemented, this will lead to a minimal total design and construction effort for nuclear power plants (NPP)

The environmental impacts are compared of conventional coal-fired and oil-fired power plants and of nuclear power plants. The values are compared of SO/sub 2/, NO/sub 2/, ash and soot emissions with /sup 133/Xe and /sup 85/Kr fission products release and the requirement for air for diluting these emissions in the atmosphere is assessed. Also compared are thermal pollution from an oil-fired power plant and from PWR and fast reactor power plants. The conclusion is arrived at that nuclear energy can solve the problem of increasing demand for electric and heat power while reducing negative environmental impacts.

The environmental impacts are compared of conventional coal-fired and oil-fired power plants and of nuclear power plants. The values are compared of SO 2 , NO 2 , ash and soot emmisions with 133 Xe and 85 Kr fission products release and the requirement for air for diluting these emissions in the atmosphere is assessed. Also compared are thermal pollution from an oil-fired power plant and from PWR and fast reactor power plants. The conclusion is arrived at that nuclear energy can solve the problem of increasing demand for electric and heat power while reducing negative environmental impacts. (O.K.)

This article reports the results of color and psychological analysis of the outlook of nuclear power plants and the visual environments inside of the plants. Study one was the color measurements of the outlook of nuclearplants and the visual environment inside of the plants. Study two was a survey of the impressions on the visual environments of nuclearplants obtained from observers and interviews of the workers. Through these analysis, we have identified the present state of, and the problems of the color environments of the nuclearplants. In the next step, we have designed the color environments of inside and outside of the nuclearplants which we would recommend (inside designs were about fuel handling room, operation floor of turbine building, observers' pathways, central control room, rest room for the operators). Study three was the survey about impressions on our design inside and outside of the nuclearplants. Nuclearplant observers, residents in Osaka city, residents near the nuclearplants, the operators, employees of subsidiary company and the PR center guides rated their impressions on the designs. Study four was the survey about the design of the rest room for the operators controlling the plants. From the results of four studies, we have proposed some guidelines and problems about the future planning about the visual environments of nuclear power plants. (author)

The Federal Commission, which is studying energy scenarios, will doubtlessly come to the conclusion that a withdrawal from nuclear energy is technically and economically feasible. Feasibility alone however is no justification for action. Have the questions been asked correctly by the parliamentarians? Are the real problems being bypassed? Is the demand for a withdrawal from nuclear energy soundly based? Is it not oversimplified? Many people are afraid of nuclear energy because they do not understand it. It is necessary that specialists formulate their ideas so that the layman can easily understand them. The broad public can be educated to lose their fear of nuclear power plants which they compare with the nuclear bombs. They can also be educated to lose their fear of radioactivity. The public should also realize that the CO 2 problem is actual and very serious, and that nuclear energy can in fact help to alleviate this particular problem. 7 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab

This paper examines a specific nuclear power plant modification performed in a risk-informed regulatory environment. It quantifies both the permanent and temporary effects of the modification, and performs a cost-benefit evaluation. (authors)

In Korea, there are five nuclear power plant sites, located at Yongkwang, Kori, Shin Kori, Uljin, and Wolsong. Each administrative district has its own NESC (NuclearplantEnvironment Public Supervisory Committee) which consists of a steering committee and a center. The purpose of NESC is to let the public survey and inspect nuclearplantenvironment and then improve a clarity and confidence in plant construction and operation by themselves. In order to understand the situation of NESC and explore ways toward a better role of NESC, in this paper we try to enumerate a few major facts related to a current status of NESC. As a summary, there must be a great role of NESC in the relationship between the residents, a nuclear industry company and the related government division. Furthermore, NESC would certainly do its role for all sides provided that more strong definition of NESC in law, more financial supporting and more philosophical speculation for the being of NESC

The problem of low-SNR (Signal-to-Noise ratio) digital communication system design in man-made electromagnetic environment within a nuclear power plant is addressed. A canonical structure of the low-SNR receiver is derived and analyzed for its bit error rate performance. The parameters that affect the error rate performance are identified and illustrated. Several well-known digital modulations are considered. It is shown that the receiver structure is dependent on the first-order probability density function of the noise environment. Thus, we offer comments for its robust implementation and its effect on bit error rate performance. We model the EM environment within the nuclear power plant to be e - mixture model, the parameters of which can be estimated to fit the environment. (author)

An epidemiological study of cancer in children in the environment of nuclear power plants has been written on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS). The study is a case controlled study based on the German Register of Cancer in Children. The most important outcome of the study is the finding that a connection can be observed in Germany between the proximity to a nuclear power plant of the place of living and the risk of a child to develop cancer in the 5 th year of life. The magnitude of this risk was calculated to be approximately 0.2%, i.e., out of a total of 13,373 cases of cancer, 29 would be attributable to living within the 5 km zone around a nuclear power plant. This finding demands an explanation. The study proper cannot serve as a material witness because it had not been designed to establish cause and effect relations between the risk and potential origins. The expert consultants frankly state that current knowledge about radiation biology and epidemiology in principle does not allow the ionizing radiation emitted by German nuclear power plants in normal operation to be interpreted as the cause. Whether confounders, selection or chance play a role in the observed and documented finding cannot be explained for good by the study. However, although representing an honorable acquittal, the study produces a different effect in the public mind. What is remembered is the link between nuclear power plants and cancer in children. (orig.)

This voluminous and illustrated guide aims at giving detailed information on the nature of waters used by nuclear power plants and of releases, on how these samplings and controls are performed, on the associated risks for the environment and public health, and on how public is informed. After a general overview of these issues, a chapter addresses the protection of nature and biodiversity and the actions performed by EDF in this respect. The next chapter deals with public information. The next chapters discuss the water needs of a nuclear power plant, effluent releases and their impacts. Two chapters are dedicated to the monitoring and control of the environment, and to the various techniques of environmental metrology. Legal and regulatory aspects are then presented

To study environment safety assessment of inland nuclear power plants (NPPs), the impact of environment safety under the normal operation was researched and the environment risk of serious accidents was analyzed. Moreover, the requirements and relevant provisions of site selection between international nuclear power plant and China's are comparatively studied. The conclusion was that the environment safety assessment of inland and coastal nuclear power plant have no essential difference; the advanced reactor can meet with high criteria of environment safety of inland nuclear power plants. In this way, China is safe and feasible to develop inland nuclear power plant. China's inland nuclear power plants will be as big market for advanced reactor. (author)

Some legal aspects about nuclear power plants siting in face of environment legislation and policy in the Brazilian law are discussed. The public participation in the process of site selection in face of actual constitutional precepts and the decision given by Supreme Court which determined to private competence of the Union, given by Constitutional rules and by the law number 6803 in 1980. (M.C.K.) [pt

A review is presented about ecological effects of giant nuclear Power Plants (ca. 5,000 MWe) on coastal environment. From short to long time, the problems concern the following points of view: - physical: (sitology; necessity of ecological mapping); - mechanical: (the cooling systems. 'Courantology'. Disturbance of marine micro- and macro-organisms); - thermal: (the heated discharges; thermal pollution. Effects on dissolved chemicals and marine organisms. Acquaculture and its limits); - chemical and radiochemical: (synergistic pollutions. Chlorine vs. fouling. Acute or chronic radioactive effluents; concentration by food chains). The conclusions emphasize the necessity of 'pluridisciplinarity' and 'zero-point' definition. Three ecological categories can be distinguished on the basis of water physical turn-over; to this categories correspond various standards and recommandations for management of nuclear Power Plants in coastal zones [fr

Nuclear power plant's safety is very important problem. In this very conscientious environment if operator has a little mistake, they may threaten with many people influence their safety. Therefore, operating training of control room is very important. However, the operator training is in limited space and time. Each operator must go to simulative control room do some training. If we can let each trainee having more time to do training and does not go to simulative control room. It may have some advantages for trainee. Moreover, in the traditional training ways, each operator may through the video, teaching manual or through the experienced instructor to learn the knowledge. This training way may let operator feel bored and stressful. So, in this paper aims, we hope utilizing virtual reality technology developing a game-based virtual training environment of control room. Finally, we will use presence questionnaire evaluating realism and feasibility of our virtual training environment. Expecting this initial concept of game-based virtual training environment can attract trainees having more learning motivation to do training in off-hour. (author)

The growth is briefly outlined of world daily power consumption and the possibilities are discussed of meeting this demand. Coal and nuclear power are of primary importance as energy resources for the present and the near future. Production costs per 1 kWh of electric power in nuclear power plants are already lower in fossil fuel power plants and both types of power plants have an environmental impact. Activities are presented of radioisotopes resulting from nuclear reactor operation and their release and environmental impact are discussed. An analysis is made of emissions from combustion processes and of wastes from fossil-fuel power plant operation. The environmental impacts of nuclear and fossil fuel power plants are compared. (Z.M.)

The growth is briefly outlined of world daily power consumption and the possibilities are discussed of meeting this demand. Coal and nuclear power are of primary importance as energy resources for the present and the near future. Production costs per 1 kWh of electric power in nuclear power plants are already lower than in fossil fuel power plants and both types of power plants have an environmental impact. Activities are presented of radioisotopes resulting from nuclear reactor operation and their release and environmental impact are discussed. An analysis is made of emissions from combustion processes and of wastes from fossil-fuel power plant operation. The environmental impacts of nuclear and fossil fuel power plants are compared.

Considered are the problems of measuring gamma radiation dose values and the dose distribution in the nuclear power plant area with the aim of estimating the extent of their effect on the population. Presented are the dosimeters applied, their distribution throughout the controlled area, time of measurement. The distribution of gamma radiation doses over the controlled area and the dose alteration with the increase of the distance from the release source are shown. The results of measurements are investigated. The conclusion is made that operating nuclear power plants do not cause any increase in the gamma radiation dose over the area. Recommendations for clarifying the techniques for using dose-meters and decreasing measurement errors are given [ru

A survey is presented of the problems of the use of agricultural land in the environs of nuclear power plants. The analysis of emission activity in nuclear power plants presently under construction shows that for normal operation no precautions are necessary. For accidents, specific health protection measures are planned. (author)

Though the requests to urge the construction of nuclear power plants increased since the oil crisis, it is clear that it is necessary to take some countermeasures without delay at present because the location problems are in deadlock. Drastic change of the way of thinking should be made first if the social and political extensions of the problem are considered. It must require the persevering effort based on long-range outlook. Accordingly, emphasis is put on the introduction of the environmental administration in U.S. which seems to have many respects to be referred to in the following description. Then National Environmental Policy Act and the permission and approval procedures for nuclear power stations in U.S. are described, and the details of environmental disputes are listed. It reveals the discrepancy of the actual circumstances in Japan and the United States, and that the important portion of the U.S. experience and concept is not learned by Japanese. The Government lacks the recognition that the public acceptance of safety is not obtained till the report of safety investigation and environmental assessment by the governmental organizations are entrusted to people's judgement. That is, the procedures to win the public acceptance are omitted in Japan. The thoroughness of environmental protection is first of all necessary for achieving the target of nuclear power development. Since it seems to be nothing but the countermeasures for the public acceptance of nuclear power generation to cope with ''60 mens' testimony'', the main points of the ''Sixty mens' testimony'' in Fukushima public hearing are cited at the end, which is supposed to include almost all opposite opinions. (Wakatsuki, Y.)

The separation processes in gas treatment steps for the decontamination of circuit or offgas streams are described and their practicability is evaluated. Examples of the effectiveness of gas separation plants for keeping the environment within and without nuclearplants free from harmful gas-borne activity are presented. (orig.) [de

Power plant data, and the information that can be derived from it, provide the link to the plant through which the operations, maintenance and engineering staff understand and manage plant performance. The extensive use of computer technology in advanced reactor designs provides the opportunity to greatly expand the capability to obtain, analyze, and present data about the plant to station personnel. However, to support highly efficient and increasingly safe operation of nuclear power plants, it is necessary to transform the vast quantity of available data into clear, concise, and coherent information that can be readily accessed and used throughout the plant. This need can be met by an integrated computer workstation environment that provides the necessary information and software applications, in a manner that can be easily understood and sued, to the proper users throughout the plan. As part of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the Electric Power Research Institute, the Oak Ridge National laboratory has developed functional requirements for a Plant-Wide Integrated Environment Distributed On Workstations (Plant-Window) System. The Plant-Window System (PWS) can serve the needs of operations, engineering, and maintenance personnel at nuclear power stations by providing integrated data and software applications within a common computing environment. The PWS requirements identify functional capabilities and provide guidelines for standardized hardware, software, and display interfaces so as to define a flexible computing environment for both current generation nuclear power plants and advanced reactor designs

A comparison of ecological effects produced by a thermal power station (TPS) and a nuclear power plant (NPP) of similar electric capacity has been made. The ecological advantages of NPP over TPS are revealed in analysis of aerosol and gas blow-out and its danger for the environment. From the above data it follows that TPS as compared with NPP of similar electric capacity produces a 100 and 1000 fold higher air pollution effect than the latter. The dose of TPS radiation effect is minimum 500 times higher than that of NPP at normal operation. Large-scale construction of NPP is one of the most perfect means of atmosphere protection against harmful industrial discharges

As nuclear energy is a matter of debate as a source of energy because of the huge hazards related to the possibility of a nuclear accident, it is often forgotten that, in its normal operation, a nuclearplant releases radioactive isotopes and many chemical compounds in the environment, and health studies performed on the long term on people living near nuclearplants begin to reveal, for example, an increase of child leukaemia. In this report, and after some recalls about a nuclearplant operation (water supply, overview of releases of radioactive isotopes and chemical compounds), the authors discuss the impact on child cancer by commenting some knowledge about the effect of low doses, and by commenting the results of two studies (KiKK of 2008, and INSERM). They discuss the posture of the ASN and the associated controversy, and finally outline the relevance of the different arguments

129 I and 131 I activities are measured in leaf samples collected within Trombay region, covering a radius of 4500 m from the reprocessing plant. The concentration of 129 I and 131 I in dried leaf samples ranged from 0.04 to 1.28 pCi/gm and 4 to 5 pCi/gm respectively. A radiochemical procedure involving distillation and solvent extractions of 129 I and then counting in a Liquid Scintillation Spectrometer is used for its final determination. The concentration of 129 I observed in leaf samples collected at the south site gate is used to calculate the dose commitment to an adult via grass-cow-milk pathway. On the basis of conservative assumption that the activity present in the grass would be equal to that in the leaf, the dose commitment to an adult through milk ingestion route will not exceed 5.5 μSv/y. (author). 2 tabs., 13 refs

Every nuclear industrial facility must achieve radioactivity measurements of its environment: COGEMA is therefore very careful of its environmental quality and guarantees the supervision of it with a programme corresponding to the activities and to the environment characteristics. We shall study- the atmospheric control- the waters control- the plants control and we shall end on results synthesis, which must be analysed according to the natural omnipresent radioactivity. 6 Annexes

At the maintenance work site in nuclear power plants, due to the shortening (reduction of a regular inspection period) of the regular inspection period, the tendency toward working on around-the-clock basis has increased; thus, nighttime work is on the rise. Based upon research both locally and internationally, as well as examples of measures against such a tendency and the results of on-site surveys of the environment surrounding maintenance works at nuclear power plants, the author comprehensively studied the effects of nighttime work on workers, the measures to cope with the situation, and how a working environment for nighttime work should be. Based on the results, the authors made a guidebook for nighttime maintenance work at nuclear power plants. This guidebook, which deals with the subject of nighttime maintenance work at nuclear power plants, is quite unique in the world. It is expected that by using this guidebook, the quality of nighttime maintenance work and the levels of techniques/skills would be enhanced and maintained, and the safety of workers would be ensured, promoting considerably thus the establishment of a comfortable workplace. (author)

At the maintenance work site in nuclear power plants, due to the shortening (reduction of a regular inspection period) of the regular inspection period, the tendency toward working on around-the-clock basis has increased; thus, nighttime work is on the rise. Based upon research both locally and internationally, as well as examples of measures against such a tendency and the results of on-site surveys of the environment surrounding maintenance works at nuclear power plants, the author comprehensively studied the effects of nighttime work on workers, the measures to cope with the situation, and how a working environment for nighttime work should be. Based on the results, the authors made a guidebook for nighttime maintenance work at nuclear power plants. This guidebook, which deals with the subject of nighttime maintenance work at nuclear power plants, is quite unique in the world. It is expected that by using this guidebook, the quality of nighttime maintenance work and the levels of techniques/skills would be enhanced and maintained, and the safety of workers would be ensured, promoting considerably thus the establishment of a comfortable workplace. (author)

Surveillance of radioactive substances around Finnish nuclear power plants continued in 1989-1990 according to the regular monitoring programmes. About 1000 samples were analysed annually from both terrestrial and aquatic environments. The dominant artificial radionuclides in the vicinity of the power plants were still the cesium isotopes, 137 Cs and 134 Cs, originating from the Chernobyl accident. Owing to radioactive decay, other fallout nuclides with shorter half-lives disappeared from the environmental samples during the period in question. Trace amounts of activation products originating from the airborne releases of the local power plants were detected in some air and deposition samples. Discharged nuclides were more abundant in the aquatic environment, especially in samples of indicator organisms and sinking matter collected from the Olkiluoto area in 1990. However, the concentrations were so low that they did not markedly raise the radiation burden in the environment. (orig.)

One of the challenges in harsh environments qualification and verification for emerging new I and C system of the nuclear power plant is to define the operational environment of these new emerging I and C sensor and communication network such that they are tested to the limits of a mission without requiring expensive over design. To aid this, this report defines, discusses and recommends environmental guideline and verification requirements for using state-of-the-art RPS sensors, fiber optic communication system, wireless communication and wireless smart sensors in nuclear harsh environments. This report focuses on advances in sensors (e.g., temperature, pressure, neutron and thermal power sensors) and their potential impact. Discussed are: radiation, thermal, electromagnetic, and electrical environment specifications. Presented are the typical performance data (survivability guidelines and experimental data), evaluation procedure and standard test method of communication devices, state-of-the-art RPS sensors, and communication systems

One of the challenges in harsh environments qualification and verification for emerging new I and C system of the nuclear power plant is to define the operational environment of these new emerging I and C sensor and communication network such that they are tested to the limits of a mission without requiring expensive over design. To aid this, this report defines, discusses and recommends environmental guideline and verification requirements for using state-of-the-art RPS sensors, fiber optic communication system, wireless communication and wireless smart sensors in nuclear harsh environments. This report focuses on advances in sensors (e.g., temperature, pressure, neutron and thermal power sensors) and their potential impact. Discussed are: radiation, thermal, electromagnetic, and electrical environment specifications. Presented are the typical performance data (survivability guidelines and experimental data), evaluation procedure and standard test method of communication devices, state-of-the-art RPS sensors, and communication systems.

As the result of the rapid development of IT technology, an on-line diagnostic system using the fieldbus communication network coupled with a smart sensor module will be widely used at the nuclear power plant in the near future. The smart sensor system is very useful for the prompt understanding of abnormal state of the key equipment installed in the nuclear power plant. In this paper, it is assumed that a smart sensor system based on the fieldbus communication network for the surveillance and diagnostics of safety-critical equipment will be installed in the harsh-environment of the nuclear power plant. It means that the key components of fieldbus communication system including microprocessor, FPGA, and ASIC devices, are to be installed in the RPV (reactor pressure vessel) and the RCS (reactor coolant system) area, which is the area of a high dose-rate gamma irradiation fields. Gamma radiation constraints for the DBA (design basis accident) qualification of the RTD sensor installed in the harsh environment of nuclear power plant, are typically on the order of 4 kGy/h. In order to use a fieldbus communication network as an ad-hoc diagnostics sensor network in the vicinity of the RCS pump area of the nuclear power plant, the robust survivability of IT-based micro-electronic components in such intense gamma-radiation fields therefore should be verified. An intelligent CCD camera system, which are composed of advanced micro-electronics devices based on IT technology, have been gamma irradiated at the dose rate of about 4.2 kGy/h during an hour up to a total dose of 4 kGy. The degradation performance of the gamma irradiated CCD camera system is explained.

As the result of the rapid development of IT technology, an on-line diagnostic system using the fieldbus communication network coupled with a smart sensor module will be widely used at the nuclear power plant in the near future. The smart sensor system is very useful for the prompt understanding of abnormal state of the key equipment installed in the nuclear power plant. In this paper, it is assumed that a smart sensor system based on the fieldbus communication network for the surveillance and diagnostics of safety-critical equipment will be installed in the harsh-environment of the nuclear power plant. It means that the key components of fieldbus communication system including microprocessor, FPGA, and ASIC devices, are to be installed in the RPV (reactor pressure vessel) and the RCS (reactor coolant system) area, which is the area of a high dose-rate gamma irradiation fields. Gamma radiation constraints for the DBA (design basis accident) qualification of the RTD sensor installed in the harsh environment of nuclear power plant, are typically on the order of 4 kGy/h. In order to use a fieldbus communication network as an ad-hoc diagnostics sensor network in the vicinity of the RCS pump area of the nuclear power plant, the robust survivability of IT-based micro-electronic components in such intense gamma-radiation fields therefore should be verified. An intelligent CCD camera system, which are composed of advanced micro-electronics devices based on IT technology, have been gamma irradiated at the dose rate of about 4.2 kGy/h during an hour up to a total dose of 4 kGy. The degradation performance of the gamma irradiated CCD camera system is explained

The report contents final environment evaluation and selected characteristic of residents health physics of nuclear power plant Bohunice region. Evaluated data were elaborated during analytical period 1993-1997.Task solving which results are documented in this final report was going on between 1996- 1998. The report deals in individual stages with the following: Information obtaining and completing which characterize demographic situation of the area for the 1993-1997 period; Datum obtaining and completing which contain selected health physics characteristics of the area residents; Database structures for individual data archiving from monitoring and collection; Brief description of geographic information system for graphic presentation of evaluation results based on topographic base; Digital mapping structure description; Results and evaluation of radionuclide monitoring in environment performed by Environmental radiation measurements laboratory by the nuclear power plant Bohunice for the 1993-1997 period. Demographic situation evaluation and selected health physics characteristics of the area of nuclear power plant residents for the 1993-1997 period are summarized in the final part of the document. Monitoring results and their evaluation is processed in graph, table, text description and map output forms. Map outputs are processed in the geographic information system Arc View GIS 3.0a environment

Since 1991, the IRSN carries out annual radioecological studies in the environment of the French Nuclear Power Plants. More than 5,000 samples, collected in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems around the 20 studied plants, have been analysed by low-level gamma spectrometry. This paper presents the main goals and methods for such studies, and the lessons learnt from 11 years results. The French NPP routine atmospheric releases do not lead to detectable radioactive inputs into their surroundings. For this reason, IRSN decided to reduce the number of analysis concerning terrestrial samples since 2000. On the other hand, NPP liquid discharges into rivers are responsible for the presence of low 60 Co, 58 Co, 110m Ag and 54 Mn activities and significant difference in 137 Cs/ 134 Cs activity ratios measured in aquatic compartments. Radioactive discharges of artificial gamma emitters are also detectable in the Channel marine environment around NPP. Nevertheless, this influence is often concealed by radionuclides released by COGEMA-La Hague nuclear reprocessing plant. Beyond important evaluations concerning the presence of artificial radionuclides in NPP's environment, studies conducted since 1991 give us an important database that can be used for a better knowledge of transfers and distribution of radioactivity through the environment. (author)

Airborne radioactive materials of nuclear power plant (NPP) releases to the environment from the stack of NPP. Radioactive liquid waste releases of the ocean, the fluvial and the lake through the liquid waste letdyke of NPP. Further more, a few radioactive waste may be taken out of the NPP by vehicle or personnel. For the purpose of strict management and control above-mentioned waste, we use detect equipment monitoring radioactive waste of NPP. Management and control for the releasing of radioactive material to the environment in M310 reformatived NPP is strict and safety. (authors)

The report presents a complex analysis of hazards connected with electrical energy production in nuclear power plants and coal power plants, starting with fuel mining, through power plant construction, operation, possible accidents and decommissioning to long term global effects. The comparison is based on contemporary, proven technologies of coal fired power plants and nuclear power plants with pressurized water reactors. The hazards to environment and man due to nuclear power are shown to be much smaller than those due to coal power cycle. The health benefits due to electrical power availability are shown to be much larger than the health losses due to its production. (author). 71 refs, 17 figs, 12 tabs

Major contaminants from venting and hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors between 12 and 15 March 2011 were transported northwestward and deposited on soil and plants via precipitation. Surface soils and plant leaves were sampled at 64 sites in the Fukushima Prefecture. The highest concentrations of (134)Cs (84.4 kBq kg(-1)) and (137)Cs (82.0 kBq kg(-1)) in surface soils were observed at Nagadoro in Iidate village located 32 km northwest from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Furthermore, (131)I, (129)Te, (129 m)Te, (110 m)Ag and (140)La were detected in the same samples. Outer surface of plant leaves, such as bamboo, cabbage and grasses were highly contaminated at the high-dose rate areas of Tsushima and Minami-Tsushima in Namie town. Mugwort leaves that grew after the pollution event had extremely low concentration of radionuclides; however, the plant/soil radiocaesium ratio was 0.023 ± 0.006. It is anticipated that decomposition of fallen leaves will promote recycling of radionuclides in the environment.

The main environmental issues affecting the broad acceptability of nuclear power plant are the emission of radioactive materials, the generation of radioactive waste, and the potential for nuclear accidents. All nuclear fission reactors, regardless of design, location, operator or regulator, have the potential to undergo catastrophic accidents involving loss of control of the reactor core, failure of safety systems and subsequent widespread fallout of hazardous fission products. Risk is the mathematical product of probability and consequences, so lowprobability and high-consequence accidents, by definition, have a high risk. NPP environment surveillance is a very important task in frame of risk assessment. Satellite remote sensing data had been applied for dosimeter levels first time for Chernobyl NPP accident in 1986. Just for a normal functioning of a nuclear power plant, multitemporal and multispectral satellite data in complementarily with field data are very useful tools for NPP environment surveillance and risk assessment. Satellite remote sensing is used as an important technology to help environmental research to support research analysis of spatio-temporal dynamics of environmental features nearby nuclear facilities. Digital processing techniques applied to several LANDSAT, MODIS and QuickBird data in synergy with in-situ data are used to assess the extent and magnitude of radiation and non-radiation effects on the water, near field soil, vegetation and air. As a test case the methodology was applied for for Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Cernavoda, Romania. Thermal discharge from nuclear reactors cooling is dissipated as waste heat in Danube-Black -Sea Canal and Danube River. Water temperatures captured in thermal IR imagery are correlated with meteorological parameters. If during the winter thermal plume is localized to an area of a few km of NPP, the temperature difference between the plume and non-plume areas being about 1.5 oC, during summer and fall , is

The Barseback nuclear power plant, located on the Oresund sound between Denmark and Sweden, consists of two boiling water reactors. The release of radionuclides, mainly activation products, is quite low during normal operation. During the summer, when annual overhaul and partial refuelling take place, the discharge is much higher. Samples of seaweeds and crustaceans collected along the coast were analyzed for radionuclides. Seaweeds (Fucus vesiculosus, F. Serratus, Ascophyllum nodosum and Cladophora glomerata) and crustaceans (Idothea and Gammarus) proved to be excellent bioindicators for radioactive corrosion products released from the nuclear power plant into the marine environment. These bioindicators have been used to map the spatial and temporal distribution of the released radioactivity. The activity has been followed up to 150 km from the power plant, and the decrease in activity concentration in the bioindicators with distance can be expressed by a power function. The variation with time of activity concentration reflects the amount of activity discharged from the power plant, with good resolution in time. The bioindicators exhibit different uptake patterns of the radionuclides detected. The crustacean Idothea showed variations in the Co/sup 60/ activity concentration between winter and summer. 9 references, 12 figures, 2 tables.

Taking Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant as an example, this paper gives a description of various types of environmental test carried out under the responsibility of the Operator of Nuclear Power Plants in France: permanent monitoring of radioactivity, periodic radioecological assessments. The main results of measurements taken, show the effect of the Plant to be negligible. 8 refs., 1 fig., 4 tabs

A nuclear power plant for use in an airless environment or other environment in which cooling is difficult is described. The power plant includes a boiling mercury reactor, a mercury--vapor turbine in direct cycle therewith, and a radiator for condensing mercury vapor. (AEC)

After Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident, it is started to pay more attention to operation and accident of nuclear power plants (NPPs). For domestic nuclear industry, it was recommended to establish corresponding strategies against accidents due to extremely dangerous natural disasters. Each nuclear power plant is also preparing to establish strategies to secure nuclear safety functions by estimating the counterplans for extreme accidents. Robots are particularly being used to access the areas where those are dangerous for human beings to access or to restore the accident. Robot technologies in NPPs are emerging cutting-edge technologies that are just a start except the developed countries like USA, Japan, etc. But they are carefully considered because they have the advantages of performing tasks in extremely dangerous environment in NPPs instead of human beings. In this study, the applicability of robots will be considered in extremely dangerous environment in NPPs. Accurate judgment of the inside situation of the plant and quick actions in the extreme condition like earthquake accompanied by loss of all AC powers should be considered as major function in terms of prevention of accident spread. According to the reported stress test results of domestic NPPs, the difficult things for operators to carry out in extreme conditions can be predictable, therefore the active use of robots as accident mitigation strategies will be helpful to reduce the unnecessary spending for facility improvement. Current trend of domestic and foreign robot technology development focuses on the information search of the inside of the plant and development of preventive maintenance of NPPs. As seen actually in Fukushima Daiichi, main roles of robots place emphasis on measuring the inside radiation level accessing to the area where operator cannot access and delivering information which can support operator's decision-making and actions. Therefore, it is considered that development of

As digitizing the I and C systems in nuclearplants, The SMART sensors/ actuators are considered as a alternative of the conventional field devices. Because the digitization of the filed level devises is still primitive, it is necessary to perform the relative R and D. Especially, it is difficult to adopt the digital devices in a containment building of the nuclearplants due to the harsh environment conditions such as high level radiation and high temperature. Considering the tendency of the reliability enhancement, from now on, the digital device will be adopted in the harsh environment. The major technical issues of the field level digitization are a SMART transmitter/actuator technology, a network technology and an equipment qualification in harsh environment. This report describes the study results regarding the field level data network. There are many merits such as an automatic test, a diagnostics and auto-calibration when digitizing of the I and C systems. While, the data capacity will be much increased compare to the conventional systems. The future field data network should have larger data transmission speed compare to the current sensor networks such as HART and deviceNET. The candidate commercial network has been selected considering the nuclear requirements. Based on the this network, a protocol structure and a access control structure are recommended. Instruments in containment building are analyzed and the design bases and requirements have been setup to assure the safety and performance of the field data communication. According to the design bases, requirements and the node allocation criteria, the field network has been divided by functional segmentation and each instrument has been allocated to each individual data network

This paper reports the use of nuclearplant's simulation for online dose rate monitoring and dose assessment for personnel, using virtual reality technology. The platform used for virtual simulation was adapted from a low cost game engine, taking advantage of all its image rendering capabilities, as well as the physics for movement and collision, and networking capabilities for multi-user interactive navigation. A real nuclearplant was virtually modeled and simulated, so that a number of users can navigate simultaneously in this virtual environment in first or third person view, each one receiving visual information about both the radiation dose rate in each actual position, and the radiation dose received. Currently, this research and development activity has been extended to consider also on-line measurements collected from radiation monitors installed in the real plant that feed the simulation platform with dose rate data, through a TCP/IP network. Results are shown and commented, and other improvements are discussed, as the execution of a more detailed dose rate mapping campaign.

In a nuclear process heat plant the heat-exchanging components fabricated from nickel- and Fe-Ni-based alloys are subjected to corrosive service environments at temperatures up to 950 0 C for service lives of up to 140 000 h. In this paper the corrosion behaviour of the high temperature alloys in the different service environments will be described. It is shown that the degree of protection provided by Cr 2 O 3 -based surface oxide scales against carburization and decarburization of the alloys is primarily determined not by the oxidation potential of the atmospheres but by a dynamic process involving, on the one hand, the oxidizing gas species and the metal and, on the other hand, the carbon in the alloy and the oxide scale. (orig.)

The Improved Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plant (KSNP+) design has been made possible on the basis of engineering experiences and referring to an in-depth analysis of the design and construction of all the domestic nuclear power plants in operation. The KSNP+ is designed for improved safety, better economics, operability and maintainability by means of advanced technology expecting to demonstrate enhanced performance. The plant also has incorporated several environmentally friendly features through the restoration of excavated areas using an ecological approach, external coloring, figure of turbine generator building and landscaping around nuclear power plant. This is the first time that KOPEC has embarked on inducing environmentally friendly features into the basic plan. This is expected to mitigate the negative perceptions held by the residents in the vicinity of nuclear power plants and will contribute to a new and improved image of nuclear power plants. (authors)

Regular Krsko Nuclear Power Plant (NPPK) radioactivity control comprises the supervisions of the inventory of liquid and gaseous emissions at the source, and the independent supervisions of the input of radionuclides into larger environment (imisson). The controlled environment area consists primarily of a 12 kilometers large circle around the object, where the largest values of imission could be expected, and where possible changes in the Sava river and the underground waters could first be noticed. The circle has been enlarged upon the territory of the Republic of Croatia (RC) from Jesenice on Dolenjsko until Podsused (30 km of air - line distance). As reference points relevant for the readiness in the case of accident, especially for detection of iodine and aerosol air transport, the program comprises also measuring points in the RC at larger distances (from 14 to 27 km) in the direction of Zagreb its larger western surroundings (passive Thermoluminescent (TL) dosimeters in the each 42 km long). Continuous control of emission is performed by the radiological service of KNPP by routine procedures, supplemented by adequate measurements from other authorized institutions (intercomparisons, parallel measurements of representative and other samples). Summarised results of radioactive measurements for man-made and natural radionuclides are presented for different transfer media and exposure pathways in the form of assessed effective doses. Conservatively estimated dose burdens received by a member of the reference (critical) population group as the result of NPP emissions amount to a value of the committed effective dose equivalent smaller than 20 μSv/year. This value represents less than 1 % of the annual dose received on average from natural and artificial sources by a member of the general public in the normal environment. The yearly doses from natural radioactivity, global contamination (Chernobyl, atmospheric nuclear explosions), non-nuclear industries and

Data concerning the existing nuclear power plants in the world are presented. The data was retrieved from the SIEN (Nuclear and Energetic Information System) data bank. The information are organized in table forms as follows: nuclearplants, its status and type; installed nuclear power plants by country; nuclear power plants under construction by country; planned nuclear power plants by country; cancelled nuclear power plants by country; shut-down nuclear power plants by country. (E.G.) [pt

The materials of environmental background radiations around a NPP (nuclear power Plant) to be constructed is an important part in the environment effect evaluation report before its operation. The sampling and preparation of samples of air dust and rain water, measuring equipment and analytical method of gamma radionuclides, and a discussion on obtained results in the second round investigation of the two investigations are presented. Comparing with the first round investigation, the sampling places are expanded and improved, especially, a complete and satisfactory data are obtained due to the combination of anti-coincidence shield/anti-Compton HPGe ultra-low γ spectrometer and common HPGe spectrometer. These provides more systematic material to the environmental science research

The construction of a nuclear power plant is conditioned on territorial requirements and is accompanied by the disturbance of the environment, land occupation, population migration, the emission of radioactive wastes, thermal pollution, etc. On the other hand, a nuclear power plant makes possible the introduction of district heating and increases the economic and civilization activity of the population. Due to the construction of a nuclear power plant the set limits of negative impacts must not be exceeded. The locality should be selected such as to reduce the unfavourable effects of the plant and to fully use its benefits. The decision on the siting of the nuclear power plant is preceded by the processing of a number of surveys and a wide range of documentation to which the given criteria are strictly applied. (B.H.)

Full Text Available Environments in nuclear power plants (NPPs are changing as the design of instrumentation and control systems for NPPs is rapidly moving toward fully digital instrumentation and control, and modern computer techniques are gradually introduced into main control rooms (MCRs. Within the context of these environmental changes, the level of performance of operators in a digital MCR is a major concern. Situation awareness (SA, which is used within human factors research to explain to what extent operators of safety-critical systems know what is transpiring in the system and the environment, is considered a prerequisite factor to guarantee the safe operation of NPPs. However, the safe operation of NPPs can be guaranteed through a team effort. In this regard, the operating team's SA in a conventional and digital MCR should be measured in order to assess whether the new design features implemented in a digital MCR affect this parameter. This paper explains the team SA measurement method used in this study and the results of applying this measurement method to operating teams in different MCR environments. The paper also discusses several empirical lessons learned from the results.

A fire in a nuclear power plant (NPP) can damage equipment needed to safely operate the plant and thereby either directly cause an accident or else reduce the plant's margin of safety. The development of a field-model fire code to analyze the probable fire environments encountered within NPP is discussed. A set of fire tests carried out under the aegis of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is described. The results of these tests are then utilized to validate the field model

In connection with the release of radioactive substances from nuclearplants, the following requirements are to be met in respect of the assessment of radiation exposure of persons in the environment of the plant: for the purpose of planning and licencing nuclearplants, the release rates of radioactive substances are to be limited to such a degree that the dose limit values specified in the Radiation Protection Ordinance are not exceeded at any time or on any site. This applies possibly under consideration of the pre-exposure rate. For long-lived radionuclides this requirement involves the calculation of annual doses at the end of a period determined by the time of operation of the plant and by the exposure time of the persons. During the operation of nuclearplants it is necessary to calculate the radiation exposure rates resulting from the emission measured for the year of reference. This application requires the calculation of the dose commitment resulting in the future on the basis of annual emissions for persons living in the environment of the plant. In connection with the long-term prediction of the environmental impact caused by the entire nuclear industry, problems will also be arising in conjunction with the case history of the environmental exposure being subject to respective alterations as a result of additional plants

The present work explores some of the developing stages of an Expert Environment for plant failures Diagnosis Systems starting from Knowledge Based Systems. We present a prototype that carries out an inspection of anomalous symptoms and a diagnosis process based on a Plant Abnormality Model of a PHWR secondary system

In order to study the concentration and distribution of 14 C in aquatic environment in the vicinity of Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) after twenty years' operation, an apparatus extracting dissolved inorganic carbon from water was set up and applied to pretreat the water samples collected around Qinshan NPP. The 14 C concentration was measured by accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS). The results show that the 14 C specific activities in surface seawater samples range from 196.8 to 206.5 Bq/kg 203.4 ± 5.6) Bq/kg in average), which are close to the background. The 14 C concentrations in cooling water discharged from Qinshan NPP are close to the 14 C values in near shore seawater samples out of liquid radioactive effluent discharge period. It can be further concluded that the 14 C discharged previously is diluted and diffused well, and no 14 C enrichment in seawater is found. Also, no obvious increment in the 14 C specific activities of surface water and underground water samples are found between Qinshan NPP region and the reference region. (authors)

Radiation impact on the nuclear power plantenvironment is a very important problem which has to be solved during design and construction. Damage that could be caused by release of radioactive material into the environment should be estimated and the magnitude of nuclear and radiation risk of the power plant should be evaluated. In general the accuracy of estimation is rather poor due to statistical fluctuations of the conditions which influence radioactivity expansion in the environment, especially in the air. Different uncertainties and unresolved problems influence the inaccuracy. Since any real risk should be extremely small compared to potential risk i.e. risk induced by nuclear power plant without any safety measures, even inaccurate estimations are very useful. Method for environmental radiation risk assessment is based on relatively simple models of radiation expansion in the environment and in the air. These models are theoretically solved but they are based on relatively limited number of experimental data. Assessment of the radiation effects on the population health and mortality is an important problem [sl

Interest in nuclear power generation is increasing by rising of power demand and environmental concern. It is important more and more to confirm and show the safety operation of nuclearplants, which is useful to remove anxiety of residents. Satellite remote sensing is one of the way of it. Large observation width and long and continuous observation period are advantage of satellite remote sensing. In addition, it is very important to be able to monitor without visitation on the site. We have continued local area environmental analysis using various satellites. MODIS on Terra and Aqua which are NASA satellites received by Hachinohe Institute of Technology is mainly used. According to these results, we have shown that combined analysis of various information parameters such as land surface temperature, geographical changes, vegetation, etc. is very effective to monitor environmental changes. In these analyses, error detection is very important. Therefore, enough storage data with continuously monitoring in usual state is necessary. Moreover, it is thought that the confirmation of stable operation of plants by means of continuous monitoring can contribute to reduce residents' anxiety of nuclear power plant. Additionally, in the case that the change of influence on surroundings is detected, it is possible to grasp the situation and take measure in early stage by error detection. In this paper, as an possible example of continuous monitoring using satellite remote sensing, we introduce the result of analysis and investigation of which changes of sea surface temperature and chlorophyll concentration on the sea around power plant. (author)

The present paper is part of a series of papers aiming to present the friction and wear results of a collaborative study on nuclear power plant components tested in pressurized high temperature water. The high temperature test facilities and the methodology in presenting the kinetics and wear results are described in detail. The results of the same material combinations obtained from two very different high temperature test facilities (NRCC and EDF) are presented and discussed. (K.A.)

One of the most important points of agreement arising from international studies of nuclear energy is that no significant change to the environment has occurred as a result of operating power plants. This emerged from the Agency's symposium at United Nations headquarters during August on Environmental Aspects of Nuclear Power. (author)

Operating reliability and service life of PWR type nuclear power plants are discussed with respect to the material properties of the plant components. The effects of the operating environment on the material properties and the methods of their determination are characterized. Discussed are core materials, such as fuel, its cladding and regulating rod materials, and the materials of pipes, steam generators and condensers. The advances in the production of pressure vessel materials and their degradation during operation are treated in great detail. (Z.M.)

One of measuring systems is nuclear spectrometry, particularly Gamma-Ray Spectrometry, to measure and determine the radionuclide concentration within plant materials and environmental samples. There are four major applied techniques related to Nuclear Power Plant operation and environmental monitoring aspects. Some details about gamma ray spectrometry technique is discussed in chapter 2. The main emphasis is on the calculation of gamma-ray detector efficiency for different geometries, the minimum detectable activity concepts and dead-time correction. Also,some formula and relations are introduced. In chapter 3, the major applications of gamma-ray spectrometry for analysis of nuclear power plant and environmental samples are discussed. These applications are divided into four topics: Nuclear Fuel survey; based on the activity of fission products concentration in reactor coolant, two other applications are introduced: Fuel Burnup calculation and the calculation of rated activity of natural radionuclides in construction of materials which is the last and most important application: Measurement and determination of radionuclides activity concentr[[[[n in environmental samples is described through section 3.3 Sampling and measuring methods for research and monitoring aspects is evaluated. Some data about sample preparation methods such as pretreatment and solubilization procedures are presented. Quantitative chemical separations of trace constituents from complex sample materials invariably require meticulous work by an analytical chemist. The radiochemical separation deals with this subject. Instrumental aspects, relate to gamma-ray spectrometry, quality assurance, presentation and reporting of results are described. In the experimental part, determination of radionuclides concentration in sediment sample is presented

Currently, operation of a nuclear power plants(NPP) is highly emphasized by the integrity of the H/W and the human factors security, so the periodic safety review(PSR) is performed to NPP. The PSR activities on human factors include physical environments (illumination, noise, vibration, temperature and humidity etc). The review on these physical environments is to verify the possible affect to the human error during the operation of the man machine interface. Physical environments affect the health, job stress and job satisfaction of NPP's employees. On the ground of the reason, we need integrating the management program for the sufficient satisfaction of the regulatory basis and standards of physical environment and considering a health, a job stress and satisfaction of NPP's employees. So, this paper describes the planning of the setup procedures of physical environments and the adequate management program for the field applications in NPPs

Currently, operation of a nuclear power plants(NPP) is highly emphasized by the integrity of the H/W and the human factors security, so the periodic safety review(PSR) is performed to NPP. The PSR activities on human factors include physical environments (illumination, noise, vibration, temperature and humidity etc). The review on these physical environments is to verify the possible affect to the human error during the operation of the man machine interface. Physical environments affect the health, job stress and job satisfaction of NPP's employees. On the ground of the reason, we need integrating the management program for the sufficient satisfaction of the regulatory basis and standards of physical environment and considering a health, a job stress and satisfaction of NPP's employees. So, this paper describes the planning of the setup procedures of physical environments and the adequate management program for the field applications in NPPs.

The in situ measurements were performed by a NaI(Tl) scintillation spectrometer and a GM detector at 23 points in the environment of the power plant. During the sophisticated calibration procedure the energy and direction dependences of the detector responses were also taken into account. The dose rates were also determined by the POKER-CAMP computer code for natural radionuclides with an assumed source distribution. On the basis of the good agreement between the measured and calculated values the sensitivity of the measuring system was assessed for some given distributed radionuclides released from the power plant. (author)

As a consequence of the 26 April 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclearplant, a large amount of radioactivity was released into the atmosphere. The radioactive plume formed could be detected in practically the whole of the Northern Hemisphere a few days later. The zone most affected by the radioactive cloud over Spain was that of the Mediterranean coast and the Balearic Islands. In this paper, the authors examine the level of the radioactive contamination reached in various receptive media in Valencia, such as air, dry-fallout, water, soil, grass and milk samples collected in Valencia immediately after the accident. The activity levels are compared with those found during 1964 and 1965 due to the Chinese nuclear atmospheric explosions. The levels of contamination presented by four species of migratory birds which spend the winter in this area is analyzed. Lastly, an estimate is made of the absorbed dose

After the Chernobyl accident, a new generation of Light Water Reactors has been designed and is being built. Third generation nuclearplants are equipped with dedicated systems to insure that if the worst accident were to occur, i.e. total core meltdown, no matter how low the probability of such occurrence, radioactive releases in the environment would be minimal. This article describes the EPR, representative of this "Generation III" and a few of its competitors on the world market.

An investigation was carried out on properties of radioactive aerosol floating in the air at several workplaces in nuclear power plant. The principal results are as follows: the aerosol particle size distributions consisted of two particle groups, whose aerodynamic diameters ranged from 4 to 7 microns and from 0.4 to 0.6 microns; the radioactive aerosol particle size distribution were unimodal. The mean activity median aerodynamic diameter (AMAD) was 6 microns, with geometric standard deviation microns; and, the average density of the aerosol was about 2.2g/cm 3 . (author)

A field investigation of the transfer of 129 I and of natural 127 I in the soil-pasture-cow-milk/meat pathway has been carried out at a dairy farm situated 5400 m to the north of the small Karlsruhe nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. Soil and herbage samples were collected during the period between April 1986 and April 1987. Milk samples were collected during the 1986 grazing season. The concentrations of 129 I and 127 I were determined in all soil, herbage and milk samples. (author)

Since 1967 samples of Fucus serratus and Fucus vesi--culosus from the Swedish west-coast were collected for analysis of the concentration of fallout products, natural actinides and products released by the nuclear industry. During this time two nuclear power stations were built and began operation in this area, ''Ringhals'' in 1974 and ''Barseback'' in 1975. When detectable concentrations of Co-60 and other activation products were found in Fucus, the sampling program was intensified, both in the vicinity of ''Barseback'' and at localities up to 150 km north. Our studies have shown that measurements on Fucus can be used to map the distribution of various radionuclides from a nuclear power station in the marine environment. Knowledge of this distribution and of factors affecting it are needed to construct a radioecological model for the estimation of individual and collective dose equivalent commitment arising from intake of food and water from the marine environment of the south-west of Sweden. (H.K.)

The assessment of radioactive contamination of the air basin and underlying surface in the direction of emission reduces to determining the volume activity of the radioactive impurity in air, the surface activity on the underlying surface of the radioactive impurity is known at least approximately (for example, it can be set on the basis of the technological regulations at the nuclear power plant or according to the criterion of levels during an accident), by using exposure-dose-rate sensors in a network of posts of the automatic system for monitoring the radiation environment (ASMRE), which are placed on the industrial area of the nuclear power plant, in the shielded zone and in the observation zone, it is possible to determine more accurately the magnitude of the emission and, therefore, to estimate the scale of the radioactive contamination of the medium

In 2009 the Polish Government made a decision to introduce nuclear power to Poland. Two nuclear power plants (NPPs) will be constructed nearly at the same time - the first unit should start operation in 2020, and by 2030 there should be about 6000 MWe added to the national electrical grid. The Commissioner of the Government was nominated to introduce the Polish Nuclear Power Program (PNPP). One of the four vertically integrated - the biggest energy company (PGE - the Polish Energy Group with headquarters in Warsaw) was appointed to prepare investments. These activities are planned in four stages: I. up to 31.12.2010 - The PNPP will be prepared and the program must then be accepted by the Government. II. 2011 - 2013 - Sites will be determined, and the contract for construction of the first NPP will be closed. III. 2014 - 2015 - Technical specifications will be prepared and accepted according the law. IV. 2016 - 2020 - The first NPP in Poland will be constructed. At present, the Government is receiving proposals from some regions of Poland asking that they be chosen for the NPP. One of the obvious locations for the NPP is a 40-kilometer vicinity of Warsaw (1.8 mln inhabitants). The need for both electric power and heat is increasing because of the rapidly growing town. It gives the extremely valuable chance for a very high thermodynamic efficiency of 80% in co-generation instead of 33% (max 36% for EPR-1600) for NPP generated electric power only. The Warsaw heating system has a capacity of 3950 MWt and is the biggest among EU countries. It is the third biggest in the world. Two NPPs, each of 2 x 1000 MWe could be built on the Vistula River up and down the town. In 2005, UE calculated losses caused by gas emissions at 24 mld eur, and the span of human lives was six months shorter in western countries and 8 months shorter in Poland. Warsaw's atmosphere is very polluted also because there are four heat and power generating plants: three coal and one oil -fired. In these

Monitoring of environmental parameters has become a significant issue for operating nuclear power plants. While the long-term benefits of plant life extension programs are being pursued with comprehensive environmental monitoring programs, the potential effect of local hot spots at various plant locations needs to be evaluated for its effect on equipment degradation and shortening of equipment qualified life. A significant benefit can be experienced from temperature monitoring when a margin exists between the design versus actual operating temperature. This margin can be translated into longer equipment qualified life and significant reduction in maintenance activities. At PSE and G, the immediate need for monitoring environmental parameters is being accomplished via the use of a Logic Beach Bitlogger. The Bitlogger is a portable data loggings system consisting of a system base, input modules and a communication software package. Thermocouples are installed on selected electrical equipment and cables are run from the thermocouples to the input module of the Bitlogger. Temperature readings are taken at selected intervals, stored in memory, and downloaded periodically to a PC software program, i.e., Lotus. The data is formatted into tabular or graphical documents. Because of their versatility, Bitloggers are being used differently at the authors Nuclear facility. At the Salem Station (2 Units-4 loop Westinghouse PWR), a battery powered, fully portable, calibrated Bitlogger is located in an accessible area inside Containment where it monitors the temperature of various electrical equipment within the Pressurizer Enclosure. It is planned that close monitoring of the local hot spot temperatures in this area will allow them to adjust and reconcile the environmental qualification of the equipment

Automation of certain tasks in a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) control room is expected to result in reduced operators' mental workload, which may induce other benefits such as enhanced situation awareness and improved system performance. The final goal should be higher level of operational safety. Thus, recent works are increasingly assessing automation. The LABIHS compact NPP simulator, though, still operates under strictly manual printed hard-copy procedures, despite of the fact that the simulator incorporates several advancements in design of digitalized Human-Interfaces (HSIs). This work presents the development, implementation and integration of selected components to achieve increased level of computerized/automated operation of the LABIHS compact NPP simulator. Specifically, we discuss three components: (I) Automatic Plant Mode Detection, (II) Automatic Alarm Filtering, and (III) Computerized Procedures. Each one of these components has to be carefully designed/integrated so that one can avoid the undesired effects of some known implementations of automated systems on NPP, such as the reduction in the operator's system awareness, an increase in monitoring workload, and the degradation in manual skills, which could lead to automation-induced system failures. (author)

Automation of certain tasks in a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) control room is expected to result in reduced operators' mental workload, which may induce other benefits such as enhanced situation awareness and improved system performance. The final goal should be higher level of operational safety. Thus, recent works are increasingly assessing automation. The LABIHS compact NPP simulator, though, still operates under strictly manual printed hard-copy procedures, despite of the fact that the simulator incorporates several advancements in design of digitalized Human-Interfaces (HSIs). This work presents the development, implementation and integration of selected components to achieve increased level of computerized/automated operation of the LABIHS compact NPP simulator. Specifically, we discuss three components: (I) Automatic Plant Mode Detection, (II) Automatic Alarm Filtering, and (III) Computerized Procedures. Each one of these components has to be carefully designed/integrated so that one can avoid the undesired effects of some known implementations of automated systems on NPP, such as the reduction in the operator's system awareness, an increase in monitoring workload, and the degradation in manual skills, which could lead to automation-induced system failures. (author)

The radionuclide 14 C is produced in all types of nuclear reactors mainly by neutron induced reactions in oxygen ( 17 O), nitrogen ( 14 N) and carbon ( 13 C). Part of the 14 C created is continuously released during normal operation as airborne effluents in various chemical forms (such as CO 2 , CO and hydrocarbons) to the surroundings. Because of the biological importance of carbon and the long physical half-life of 14 C, it is of interest to measure the releases and their incorporation into living material. The 14 C activity concentrations in annual tree rings and air around two Swedish nuclear power plants (Barsebaeck and Forsmark) as well as the background 14 C activity levels from two reference sites in southern Sweden during 1973-1996 are presented in this report. In order to verify the reliability of the method some investigations have been conducted at two foreign nuclear sites, Sellafield fuel reprocessing plant in England, and Pickering nuclear generating station in Canada, where the releases of 14 C are known to be substantial. Furthermore, results from some measurements in the vicinity of Paldiski submarine training centre in Estonia are presented. The results of the 14 C measurements of air, vegetation and annual tree rings around the two Swedish nuclear power plants show very low enhancements of 14 C, if at all above the uncertainty of the measurements. Even if the accuracy of the measurements of the annual tree rings is rather good (1-2%) the contribution of 14 C from the reactors to the environment is so small that it is difficult to separate it from the prevailing background levels of 14 C . This is the case for all sampling procedures: in air and vegetation as well as in annual tree rings. Only on a few occasions an actual increase is observed. However, although the calculations suffer from rather large uncertainties, the calculated release rate from Barsebaeck is in fair agreement with reported release data. The results of this investigation show

This paper examines economic analyses of the “Options for Energy and the Environment” proposed by the Japanese government. The main focuses of the analyses are the power generation mix in 2030, and particularly electricity supply shares of nuclear power. The options proposed by the government assume drastic energy efficiency improvements, increase in renewable energy, and deep CO 2 emission reductions. Considerable energy savings are assumed by the government even in the baseline scenario, and these are inconsistent with historical growth trends for GDP and power demand. We modify the energy savings baseline scenario for consistency with the historical trends and historical electricity savings after the nuclear power accident. In order to provide a wider array of options, particularly those with fewer negative impacts on GDP, this paper proposes alternative options under a revised baseline. In the alternative options, we assume lower shares of renewable energy in electricity supply and lower carbon price. The economic impacts for the alternative options are much smaller than those assumed by the government. The economic analyses provided in this paper will help future policy making for energy and environment in Japan. - Highlights: • This paper provides economic analyses on future energy scenarios proposed by the Japanese government. • Energy savings of the government's scenarios are inconsistent with historical trends. • We modify baseline scenario of energy savings and propose alternative options. • Economic impacts for alternative options are smaller than those by the government

129 I has been analyzed in both aqueous and soil samples to characterize the environmental impact of the Savannah River Plant (SRP) reprocessing operations. 129 I was quantified by a neutron activation procedure with γ-ray spectrometric detection [Ge(Li)]. For many samples, natural iodine ( 127 I) was also quantified. A wide range of samples can be accommodated by a combustion-based preirradiation isolation technique. 129 I amounts as low as 3.8 fCi can be determined with counting times of less than 30 minutes (s/sub rel/ = 10%). Deposition of 129 I in the environment via aqueous and airborne emissions has been studied. Data from analysis of seepage basin contents, spring water, on-plant streams, and the Savannah River show that 129 I from the seepage basins migrates easily through the soil with the groundwater, eventually reaching the Savannah River. Annual aqueous release rates were estimated to be 16 to 27 mCi/year. Data from analysis of soils from distances up to 159 km from SRP show above background levels of 129 I in both the minimum and maximum airborne transport directions. The soil results are compared with a wind dispersion model. The vertical distribution of 129 I in the soil was determined to a depth of 61 cm

The textbook focuses on the technology and the operating characteristics of nuclear power plants equiped with pressurized water or boiling water reactors, which are in operation all over the world at present. The following topics are dealt with in relation to the complete plant and to economics: distribution and consumption of electric and thermal energy, types and equipment of nuclear power plants, chemical processes and material balance, economical characteristics concerning heat and energy, regenerative preheating of feed water, degassing and condenser systems, water supply, evaporators, district heating systems, steam generating systems and turbines, coolant loops and pipes, plant siting, ventilation and decontamination systems, reactor operation and management, heat transfer including its calculation, design of reactor buildings, and nuclear power plants with gas or sodium cooled reactors. Numerous technical data of modern Soviet nuclear power plants are included. The book is of interest to graduate and post-graduate students in the field of nuclear engineering as well as to nuclear engineers

After an historical overview of the nuclear regulation system in Argentina a description is made of the country's Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ARN) and of its regulation and control functions. Its organic structure is also outlined. A detailed report is given of the environmental monitoring activities in the sites of the operating Argentine nuclear power plants as well as those of the nuclear research centres. A special reference is made of the monitoring of the relevant uranium mining districts in Argentina. The radon determination in houses of several regions of the country is also mentioned

The Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) controls nuclear power plant safety in Finland. In addition to controlling the design, construction and operation of nuclear power plants, STUK also controls refuelling and repair outages at the plants. According to section 9 of the Nuclear Energy Act (990/87), it shall be the licence-holder's obligation to ensure the safety of the use of nuclear energy. Requirements applicable to the licence-holder as regards the assurance of outage safety are presented in this guide. STUK's regulatory control activities pertaining to outages are also described

Nuclear Recycle Board (NRB), Tarapur proposes to set up an 'Integrated Nuclear Recycle Plant' at Tarapur. This will be located in the premises of BARC facilities. The project location is at coastal town of Tarapur, 130 Km north of Mumbai. Project area cover of INRP is around 80 hectares. The plant will be designed to process spent fuel received from Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs). This is the first large scale integrated plant of the country. INRP will process spent fuel obtained from indigenous nuclear power plants and perform left over nuclear waste disposal

Research to study the effect of sea water temperature increase on plankton population had been carried out to predict nuclear power plant impact to the environment. Plankton collected from Jepara waters, Muria Peninsula, was grown on growth medium i.e. sea water enriched with silicate fertilizer. Plankton growth was maintained at temperature varied from 34oC to 46oC and the amount of plankton individu was counted twice a day until it was reduced about 95%. The results showed that the reduction of amount of plankton individu occurred on the medium with temperature above the ambient temperature (34oC). The rate of reduction is linear to the temperature increase. There is no plankton survived at temperature above 40oC for more than 24 hours

The film stresses that a drastic reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels, must be achieved to limit a dangerous concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It compares the environmental costs of different energy sources, in particular the wastes of a coal-fired versus a nuclearplant, and mentions the measures taken to reinforce protection against the risk of nuclear accidents

This publication is one of a series of information booklets for the general public published by the United States Atomic Energy Commission. Among the topics discussed are: Why Use Nuclear Power?; From Atoms to Electricity; Reactor Types; Typical Plant Design Features; The Cost of Nuclear Power; Plants in the United States; Developments in Foreign…

The environmental effects of nuclear power discussed in this paper are specifically the effects of radiation on human populations, either directly or through the food chain. Controlling the environmental effects of nuclear power has two dimensions, waste management and safety. Regulatory controls aim to keep the risk of death due to man-made radiation down to what is thought to be an acceptable level; the background to the establishing of such levels is examined. The scale of the nuclear industry is outlined. In industrial countries with nuclear power, with the possible exception of the USA and USSR which have extensive nuclear weapons programmes, most radioactive wastes arise in the civil nuclear fuel cycle; medical, research and industrial users of nuclear materials produce the rest. The extreme variety of materials included in radioactive wastes is highlighted. Approaches to the management of different kinds of radioactive waste are discussed; the particular problems associated with reactor decommissioning are considered. The enormous potential harm of serious accidents at nuclear power plants through a release of large quantities of radionuclides into the environment has been a dominant influence in the design of reactors. The accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl underline the need for careful examination of management issues as well as design and operational failures. Finally, the catastrophic effects of a full scale nuclear war are briefly considered within the context of nuclear proliferation and international security. (UK)

The APROS Simulation Environment has been developed since 1986 by Imatran Voima Oy (IVO) and the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT). It provides tools, solution algorithms and process components for use in different simulation systems for design, analysis and training purposes. One of its main nuclear applications is the Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant Analyzer (LPA). The Loviisa Plant Analyzer includes all the important plant components both in the primary and in the secondary circuits. In addition, all the main control systems, the protection system and the high voltage electrical systems are included. (orig.)

After having discussed the evolution of energy needs in relationship with economic and demographic evolutions, the evolution of energy resources and of the energy mix in different part of the world, the evolution of energy costs, the author comments the different impacts of the different energies, and more particularly nuclear energy, on the environment. He identifies six major impacts: energy congestion management, greenhouse effect, wastes, radioactivity, accidents, and nuclear proliferation

Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) affected by a great earthquake finally suffered reactor core meltdown with loss of all cooling capability and discharged a large amount of radioactive materials to the environment. Local areas in the northwest direction from NPPs were highly contaminated with radioactive materials. In order to reduce radiation exposure, several kinds of decontamination works had been tested in contaminated areas of primary school and kindergarten or residential houses with no evacuation. Radiation mini-hotspots were scattered. Contaminated soils and rubbles having cesium of high concentration in the order of several ten or hundreds kBq/kg were accumulated in large amounts of radioactive wastes and their disposal became a big issue. Related safety guidelines were proposed based on radioactive waste disposal for nuclear facilities as well as radiation dose control of neighboring residents and disposal workers, which would not be applicable to current state of Fukushima in a high radiation background. Establishment of new radiation protection rule was highly needed to deal with this emergency based on reality within and outside the Fukushima NPPs. (T. Tanaka)

A brief statement is presented of the nuclear power reactor programme in the United Kingdom and of the statutory and other organisations for ensuring reactor safety. The possible effects of the programme on the environment are dealt with under three heads: (1) discharge of radioactive effluents during normal operation of the power plants; (2) storage and disposal of radioactive waste; (3) reactor safety. Radiological protection of operating staff is also described briefly. (U.K.)

Highlights: • The binary overlay method was used in Phase I through OR operator for selecting the candidate areas. • The WLC and AHP methods was used to screen and select the potential sites (phase II) in Arc GIS 10.1 software. • In phase III, four sites, all located on the North western coast and Red Sea, of highest scores were chosen as Candidate sites after eliminating the lowest score sites. • The AHP method was applied to select preferred candidate site and calculating the eigenvectors in Expert Choice Software Package. - Abstract: Due to increasing demand of electrical energy and freshwater in Egypt, it is safe to assume that the decision makers will turn to nuclear power as the feasible alternative for energy. However, as time goes by, fewer sites will be available and suitable for nuclear power plant development. Site selection is a key phase of the siting process of a nuclearplant and may significantly affect the safety and cost of the facility during its entire life cycle. The siting of nuclear power plants is one of multi-criteria problems, which makes it complex. Many interrelated factors affect the process. Six constraints and twenty-two factors corresponding to safety, environment and socio-economy were considered in the siting study presented in this paper. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis was applied during the selection of nuclear power plants site using GIS software. Three spatial decision making models were applied in this paper during site selection stage. The binary overlay (Boolean logic) with Low Risk approach in which the logical OR operator is used to determine the candidate areas. All constraints were represented in binary maps, combined and a masking layer was created to eliminate the lands considered as constraints in Arc GIS Software. The 22 factors were represented in normalized maps after unifying all of them to 0–1 score scales based on the philosophy of suitability criteria (factors) using the Weighted Linear Combination

Augmented reality, which can support the maintenance and decommissioning work of an NPP to improve efficiency and reduce human error, is expected to be practically used in an NPP. AR has indispensable tracking technology that estimates the 3D position and orientation of users in real time, but because of the complication of the NPP environment, it is difficult for its practial use in the large space of an NPP. This study attempt to develop a tracking method for the practial use in an NPP. Marker tracking is a legacy tracking method, but the preparation work necessary for that method is onerous. Therefore, this study developed and evaluated a natural feature-based camera tracking method that demands less preparation and which is applicable in an NPP environment. This method registers natural features as landmarks. When tracking, the natural features existing in the NPP environment can be registered automatically as landmarks. It is therefore possible to expand the tracking area to cover a wide environment in theory. The evaluation result shows that the proposed tracking method has the possibility to support field work of some kinds in an NPP environment. It is possible to reduce the preparation work necessary for the marker tracking method. (author)

After the end of the radioactive fallout, in the beginning of the post-accidental stage, it should be possible to take decision to implement actions to reduce contamination in urban environments. The principal aim of these actions is to improve the radiological situation of the environment and thereby reduce the exposure of the population that will stay there. None of these actions wilt restore the environment to its initial condition. The second objective is to demonstrate that the situation has been anticipated and properly controlled. In the first days, it must be possible to take decisions to implement some emergency actions without stakeholder consultation. The main actions concern washing of hard surfaces such as roads, waits and roofs. To implement heavy-duty actions (stripping, replacement of roofs, covering of surfaces, etc.), a framework for discussion and exchange of information between all parties should be set up to look at the value and optimisation of these actions. (author)

Description of various types of environmental test carried out under the responsibility of the Operator of nuclear power plants in France, with taking Fessenheim nuclear power plant as an example: permanent monitoring of radioactivity, periodic radioecological assessments, main results of measurements taken, showing that there are no detectable effects of the plant on the environment, policy of openness by publication of these results

In all eukaryotic cells, the nucleus forms a prominent cellular compartment containing the cell's nuclear genome. Although structurally similar, animal and plant nuclei differ substantially in details of their architecture. One example is the nuclear lamina, a layer of tightly interconnected filament proteins (lamins) underlying the nuclear envelope of metazoans. So far no orthologous lamin genes could be detected in plant genomes and putative lamin-like proteins are only poorly described in plants. To probe for potentially conserved features of metazoan and plantnuclear envelopes, we ectopically expressed the core nuclear egress proteins of human cytomegalovirus pUL50 and pUL53 in plant cells. pUL50 localizes to the inner envelope of metazoan nuclei and recruits the nuclear localized pUL53 to it, forming heterodimers. Upon expression in plant cells, a very similar localization pattern of both proteins could be determined. Notably, pUL50 is specifically targeted to the plantnuclear envelope in a rim-like fashion, a location to which coexpressed pUL53 becomes strictly corecruited from its initial nucleoplasmic distribution. Using pUL50 as bait in a yeast two-hybrid screening, the cytoplasmic re-initiation supporting protein RISP could be identified. Interaction of pUL50 and RISP could be confirmed by coexpression and coimmunoprecipitation in mammalian cells and by confocal laser scanning microscopy in plant cells, demonstrating partial pUL50-RISP colocalization in areas of the nuclear rim and other intracellular compartments. Thus, our study provides strong evidence for conserved structural features of plant and metazoan nuclear envelops and identifies RISP as a potential pUL50-interacting plant protein.

The legal aspects of nuclear power plant construction in Brazil, derived from governamental political guidelines, are presented. Their evolution, as a consequence of tecnology development is related. (A.L.S.L.) [pt

The world has witnessed rapid changes in the last two and a half centuries. Entering the new century and millennium, many expects that drastic changes will happen, especially in the field of science and technology. With all its challenge and opportunity, the progress in science and technology is expected to result in innovative technologies to fulfil human needs for energy in the future. Because the energy supply can potentially increase the air pollution and cause global warming, the choice of energy technology must be made wisely. NPPs employ high and reliable technology with good safety records. It has been known as clean, environmental friendly, and relatively economic source of energy. Moreover, the design of advanced reactor and that of the coming generation is practically catastrophe-free and proliferation resistant, besides producing minimal waste. For that reason, nuclear power should be considered as an alternative source of energy which can support sustainable development

Today the biosafety evaluation, a common problem of vital importance, is based on internationally proved test-systems, standards and techniques. The paradigm of biosafety includes multidisciplinary approach, a combination of physical, chemical and biological tests to monitor the environmental level of pollutants and needs to be improved by modern approaches. The genetic risk of environmental pollutions has long been studied by many researchers. In this study, used was the known sensitive plant test-system, clones of plant Tradescantia (spiderwort) able to detect gene mutations (frequency of mutational events and formation of micronuclei) in combination with chemical and, in some instances, with radiological measurements. In addition, male gametophyte generation of fruit trees was applied as bioindicators of genotoxicity. The obtained results did not show any significant increase along with wind direction. As for the male gametophyte assay, the fertility of the investigated fruit-trees near to NPP did not significantly differ from that of the control point. The influence of the NPP on the male generative system of the investigated taxa of fruit trees for the investigated year was not revealed. The system described needs to be expanded by species of interest (human) as there is a difficulty to transfer the revealed dose correlations to humans. The development of this idea includes various levels: population (epidemiological studies), individual, cellular, molecular (DNA), etc.

Today the biosafety evaluation, a common problem of vital importance, is based on internationally proved test-systems, standards and techniques. The paradigm of biosafety includes multidisciplinary approach, a combination of physical, chemical and biological tests to monitor the environmental level of pollutants and needs to be improved by modern approaches. The genetic risk of environmental pollutions has long been studied by many researchers. In this study, used was the known sensitive plant test-system, clones of plant Tradescantia (spiderwort) able to detect gene mutations (frequency of mutational events and formation of micronuclei) in combination with chemical and, in some instances, with radiological measurements. In addition, male gametophyte generation of fruit trees was applied as bioindicators of genotoxicity. The obtained results did not show any significant increase along with wind direction. As for the male gametophyte assay, the fertility of the investigated fruit-trees near to NPP did not significantly differ from that of the control point. The influence of the NPP on the male generative system of the investigated taxa of fruit trees for the investigated year was not revealed. The system described needs to be expanded by species of interest (human) as there is a difficulty to transfer the revealed dose correlations to humans. The development of this idea includes various levels: population (epidemiological studies), individual, cellular, molecular (DNA), etc

In this meeting on nuclear energy and environment, abstracts on the following subjects were presented: nuclear fuels; materials; radioisotopes and its applications; reactors and nuclear power plants; regulations, energy and environment; radioactive wastes; and analytical techniques.

This report presents results of screening tests to determine component survivability in secondary environments created by fires, specifically increased temperatures, increased humidity, and the presence of particulates and corrosive vapors. Additionally, chloride concentrations were measured in the exhaust from several of the tests used to provide fire environments. Results show actual failure or some indication of failure for strip chart recorders, electronic counters, an oscilloscope amplifier, and switches and relays. The chart recorder failures resulted from accumulation of particulates on the pen slider mechanisms. The electronic counter experienced leakage current failures on circuit boards after the fire exposure and exposure to high humidity. The oscillosocpe amplifier experienced thermal-related drift as high as 20% before thermal protective circuitry shut the unit down. In some cases, switches and relays experienced high contact resistances with the low voltages levels used for the mesurements. Finally, relays tested to thermal failure experienced various failures, all at temperatures ranging from 150 0 C to above 350 0 C. The chloride measurements show that most of the hydrogen chloride generated in the test fires is combined with particulate by the time it reaches the exhaust duct, indicating that hydrogen chloride condensation may be less likely than small scale data implies. 13 refs., 36 figs

The author recognizes a body of basic knowledge in nuclear power plant technoogy that can be taught in school programs, and lists the various courses, aiming to fill the anticipated need for nuclear-trained manpower--persons holding an associate degree in engineering technology. (Author/BP)

Titanium aluminides are well-accepted elevated temperature materials. In conventional applications, their poor oxidation resistance limits the maximum operating temperature. Advanced reactors operate in nonoxidizing environments. This could enlarge the applicability of these materials to higher temperatures. The behavior of a cast gamma-alpha-2 TiAl was investigated under thermal and irradiation conditions. Irradiation creep was studied in beam using helium implantation. Dog-bone samples of dimensions 10 × 2 × 0.2 mm3 were investigated in a temperature range of 300 °C to 500 °C under irradiation, and significant creep strains were detected. At temperatures above 500 °C, thermal creep becomes the predominant mechanism. Thermal creep was investigated at temperatures up to 900 °C without irradiation with samples of the same geometry. The results are compared with other materials considered for advanced fission applications. These are a ferritic oxide-dispersion-strengthened material (PM2000) and the nickel-base superalloy IN617. A better thermal creep behavior than IN617 was found in the entire temperature range. Up to 900 °C, the expected 104 hour stress rupture properties exceeded even those of the ODS alloy. The irradiation creep performance of the titanium aluminide was comparable with the ODS steels. For IN617, no irradiation creep experiments were performed due to the expected low irradiation resistance (swelling, helium embrittlement) of nickel-base alloys.

Nuclear power plants maintenance now appears as an important factor contributing to the competitivity of nuclea energy. The articles published in this issue describe the way maintenance has been organized in France and how it led to an actual industrial activity developing and providing products and services. An information note about Georges Besse uranium enrichment plant (Eurodif) recalls that maintenance has become a main data not only for power plants but for all nuclear industry installations. (The second part of this dossier will be published in the next issue: vol. 1 January-February 1989) [fr

The efficacy of the disposal of waste heat from nuclear power plants by means of once-through and closed-cycle cooling systems is examined in the context of the physical aspects of water quality standards and guidelines for thermal discharges. Typical thermal standards for each of the four classes of water bodies (rivers, lakes, estuaries, and coastal waters) are identified. Examples of thermal standards established for once-through cooling on open coastal waters are presented. The design and general layout of various types of cooling systems are reviewed. The advantages and disadvantages of each of the cooling systems are presented, with particular emphasis on the discussion of potential environmental impacts. Modeling techniques available for impact assessment are presented. Proper selection and application of the models depend on the availability of site characteristics and understanding of the modeling techniques. Guidelines for choosing an appropriate model are presented. Various methods have been developed for the beneficial use of waste heat largely dissipated to the environment. Examples and associated problems of waste-heat utilization are discussed for agricultural, industrial, aquacultural, and residential uses

The KWU NuclearPlant Analyzer is a real time engineering simulator based on the KWU computer programs used in plant transient analysis and licensing. The primary goal is to promote the understanding of the technical and physical processes of a nuclear power plant at an on-site training facility. Thus the KWU NuclearPlant Analyzer is available with comparable low costs right at the time when technical questions or training needs arise. This has been achieved by (1) application of the transient code NLOOP; (2) unrestricted operator interaction including all simulator functions; (3) using the mainframe computer Control Data Cyber 176 in the KWU computing center; (4) four color graphic displays controlled by a dedicated graphic computer, no control room equipment; and (5) coupling of computers by telecommunication via telephone

Projected energy requirements for the future suggest that we must employ atomic energy to generate electric power or face depletion of our fossil-fuel resources—coal, oil, and gas. In short, both conservation and economic considerations will require us to use nuclear energy to generate the electricity that supports our civilization. Until we reach the time when nuclear power plants are as common as fossil-fueled or hydroelectric plants, many people will wonder how the nuclearplants work, how much they cost, where they are located, and what kinds of reactors they use. The purpose of this booklet is to answer these questions. In doing so, it will consider only central station plants, which are those that provide electric power for established utility systems.

Quarterly reports on the operation of Finnish nuclear power plants describe events and observations, relating to nuclear and radiation safety, which the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety considers significant. Also other events of general interest are reported. The reports also include a summary of the radiation safety of plant personnel and the environment, as well as tabulated data on the plants' production and load factors

Experience shows that German nuclear power plants have always been operated reliably and safely. Over the years, the safety level in these plants has been raised considerably so that they can stand any comparison with other countries. This is confirmed by the two reports published by the Federal Ministry for the Environment on the nuclear safety convention. Behind this, there must obviously stand countless appropriate 'good practices' and a safety management system in nuclear power plants. (orig.) [de

Quarterly reports on the operation of Finnish nuclear power plants describe events and observations, relating to nuclear and radiation safety, which the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety considers safety significant. Also other events of general interest are reported. The reports also include a summary of the radiation safety of plant personnel and the environment, as well as tabulated data on the plants' production and load factors

This study aimed at obtaining background tritium concentrations in precipitation and air at Rokkasho where the first commercial spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Japan has been under construction. Tritium concentration in monthly precipitation during fiscal years 2001-2005 had a seasonal variation pattern which was high in spring and low in summer. The tritium concentration was higher than that observed at Chiba City as a whole. The seasonal peak concentration at Rokkasho was generally higher than that at Chiba City, while the baseline concentrations of both were similar. The reason for the difference may be the effect of air mass from the Asian continent which is considered to have high tritium concentration. Atmospheric tritium was operationally separated into HTO, HT and hydrocarbon (CH 3 T) fractions, and the samples collected every 3 d-14 d during fiscal year 2005 were analyzed for these fractions. The HTO concentration as radioactivity in water correlated well with that in the precipitation samples. The HT concentration was the highest among the chemical forms analyzed, followed by the HTO and CH 3 T concentrations. The HT and CH 3 T concentrations did not have clear seasonal variation patterns. The HT concentration followed the decline previously reported by Mason and Ostlund with an apparent half-life of 4.8 y. The apparent and environmental half-lives of CH 3 T were estimated as 9.2 y and 36.5 y, respectively, by combining the present data with literature data. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change used the atmospheric lifetime of 12 y for CH 4 to estimate global warming in its 2007 report. The longer environmental half-life of CH 3 T suggested its supply from other sources than past nuclear weapon testing in the atmosphere. - Highlights: → We observed background tritium concentrations in atmospheric environment at Rokkasho, Japan. → Tritium concentration in precipitation was high in spring and low in summer. → The atmospheric HT

This study aimed at obtaining background tritium concentrations in precipitation and air at Rokkasho where the first commercial spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Japan has been under construction. Tritium concentration in monthly precipitation during fiscal years 2001-2005 had a seasonal variation pattern which was high in spring and low in summer. The tritium concentration was higher than that observed at Chiba City as a whole. The seasonal peak concentration at Rokkasho was generally higher than that at Chiba City, while the baseline concentrations of both were similar. The reason for the difference may be the effect of air mass from the Asian continent which is considered to have high tritium concentration. Atmospheric tritium was operationally separated into HTO, HT and hydrocarbon (CH{sub 3}T) fractions, and the samples collected every 3 d-14 d during fiscal year 2005 were analyzed for these fractions. The HTO concentration as radioactivity in water correlated well with that in the precipitation samples. The HT concentration was the highest among the chemical forms analyzed, followed by the HTO and CH{sub 3}T concentrations. The HT and CH{sub 3}T concentrations did not have clear seasonal variation patterns. The HT concentration followed the decline previously reported by Mason and Ostlund with an apparent half-life of 4.8 y. The apparent and environmental half-lives of CH{sub 3}T were estimated as 9.2 y and 36.5 y, respectively, by combining the present data with literature data. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change used the atmospheric lifetime of 12 y for CH{sub 4} to estimate global warming in its 2007 report. The longer environmental half-life of CH{sub 3}T suggested its supply from other sources than past nuclear weapon testing in the atmosphere. - Highlights: > We observed background tritium concentrations in atmospheric environment at Rokkasho, Japan. > Tritium concentration in precipitation was high in spring and low in summer. > The

Action at the international level will assume greater importance as the number of nuclear power plants increases, especially in the more densely populated parts of the world. Predictions of growth made prior to October 1973 [9] indicated that, by 1980, 14% of the electricity would be supplied by nuclearplants and by the year 2000 this figure would be about 50%. This will make the topic of international co-operation and standards of even greater importance. The IAEA has long been active in providing assistance to Member States in the siting design and operation of nuclear reactors. These activities have been pursued through advisory missions, the publication of codes of practice, guide books, technical reports and in arranging meetings to promote information exchange. During the early development of nuclear power, there was no well-established body of experience which would allow formulation of internationally acceptable safety criteria, except in a few special cases. Hence, nuclear power plant safety and reliability matters often received an ad hoc approach which necessarily entailed a lack of consistency in the criteria used and in the levels of safety required. It is clear that the continuation of an ad hoc approach to safety will prove inadequate in the context of a world-wide nuclear power industry, and the international trade which this implies. As in several other fields, the establishment of internationally acceptable safety standards and appropriate guides for use by regulatory bodies, utilities, designers and constructors, is becoming a necessity. The IAEA is presently planning the development of a comprehensive set of basic requirements for nuclear power plant safety, and the associated reliability requirements, which would be internationally acceptable, and could serve as a standard frame of reference for nuclearplant safety and reliability analyses

Alpine and subalpine plant species are of special interest in ecology and ecophysiology because they represent life at the climate limit and changes in their relative abundances can be a bellwether for climate-change impacts. Perennial life forms dominate alpine plant communities, and their form and function reflect various avoidance, tolerance, or resistance strategies to interactions of cold temperature, radiation, wind, and desiccation stresses that prevail in the short growing seasons common (but not ubiquitous) in alpine areas. Plant microclimate is typically uncoupled from the harsh climate of the alpine, often leading to substantially warmer plant temperatures than air temperatures recorded by weather stations. Low atmospheric pressure is the most pervasive, fundamental, and unifying factor for alpine environments, but the resulting decrease in partial pressure of CO2 does not significantly limit carbon gain by alpine plants. Factors such as tree islands and topographic features create strong heterogeneous mosaics of microclimate and snow cover that are reflected in plant community composition. Factors affecting tree establishment and growth and formation of treeline are key to understanding alpine ecology. Carbohydrate and other carbon storage, rapid development in a short growing season, and physiological function at low temperature are prevailing attributes of alpine plants. A major contemporary research theme asks whether chilling at alpine-treeline affects the ability of trees to assimilate the growth resources and particularly carbon needed for growth or whether the growth itself is limited by the alpine environment. Alpine areas tend to be among the best conserved, globally, yet they are increasingly showing response to a range of anthropogenic impacts, such as atmospheric deposition.

CEA (TECHNICATOME) has developed a range of pressurized water reactors of the type ''CAS compact'' which are adapted to civil ship propulsion, or to electric power production, combined possibly with heat production, up to outputs equivalent to 125 MWe. Nuclearplants equipped with these reactors are suitable to medium-size electric networks. Among the possible realizations, two types of plants are mentioned as examples: 1) Floating electron-nuclearplants; and 2) Combined electric power and desalting plants. The report describes the design characteristics of the different parts of a 125 MWe unit floating electro-nuclearplant: nuclear steam system CAS 3 G, power generating plant, floating platform for the whole plant. The report gives attention to the different possibilities according to site conditions (the plant can be kept floating, in a natural or artificial basin, it can be put aground, ...) and to safety and environment factors. Such unit can be used in places where there is a growing demand in electric power and fresh water. The report describes how the reactor, the power generating plant and multiflash distillation units of an electric power-desalting plant can be combined: choice of the ratio water output/electric power output, thermal cycle combination, choice of the gain ratio, according to economic considerations, and to desired goal of water output. The report analyses also some technical options, such as: choice of the extraction point of steam used as heat supply of the desalting station (bleeding a condensation turbine, or recovering steam at the exhaust of a backpressure turbine), design making the system safe. Lastly, economic considerations are dealt with: combining the production of fresh water and electric power provides usually a much better energy balance and a lower cost for both products. Examples are given of some types of installations which combine medium-size reactors with fresh water stations yielding from 10000 to 120000 m 3 per day

The nuclear power industry's addressing of life extension is a natural trend in the maturation of this technology after 20 years of commercial operation. With increasing emphasis on how plants are operated, and less on how to build them, attention is turning on to maximizing the use of these substantial investments. The first studies of life extension were conducted in the period from 1978 and 1982. These were motivated by the initiation, by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), of studies to support decommissioning rulemaking. The basic conclusions of those early studies that life extension is feasible and worth pursuing have not been changed by the much more extensive investigations that have since been conducted. From an engineering perspective, life extension for nuclearplants is fundamentally the same as for fossil plants

"Nuclear Energy and the Environment" is a pocket folder of removable leaflets concerned with two major topics: Nuclear energy and Nuclear Techniques. Under Nuclear Energy, leaflets concerning the topics of "Radiation--A Fact of Life,""The Impact of a Fact: 1963 Test Ban Treaty,""Energy Needs and Nuclear Power,""Power Reactor Safety,""Transport,"…

In this popular scientific brochure a brief description of history construction of Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant is presented. The chart of electricity generation in WWER 440/V-213 nuclear power plant is described. Operation and safety improvements at Mochovce NPP as well as environment protection are presented. Basic data of Mochovce NPP are included

One of the main tasks an owner have is to keep its business competitive on the market while delivering its product. Being owner of nuclear power plant bear the same (or even more complex and stern) responsibility due to safety risks and costs. In the past, nuclear power plant managements could (partly) ignore profit or it was simply expected and to some degree assured through the various regulatory processes governing electricity rate design. It is obvious now that, with the deregulation, utility privatization and competitive electricity market, key measure of success used at nuclear power plants must include traditional metrics of successful business (return on investment, earnings and revenue generation) as well as those of plant performance, safety and reliability. In order to analyze business performance of (specific) nuclear power plant, benchmarking, as one of the well-established concept and usual method was used. Domain was conservatively designed, with well-adjusted framework, but results have still limited application due to many differences, gaps and uncertainties. (author).

A number of issues have to be taken into account before the introduction of any nuclear power plant in any country. These issues include reactor safety (site and operational), waste disposal and, lastly, the decommissioning of the reactor inself. Because of the radioactive nature of the components, nuclear power plants require a different approach to decommission compared to other plants. Until recently, issues on reactor safety and waste disposal were the main topics discussed. As for reactor decommissioning, the debates have been academic until now. Although reactors have operated for 25 years, decommissioning of retired reactors has simply not been fully planned. But the Shippingport Atomic Power Plant in Pennysylvania, the first large scale power reactor to be retired, is now being decommissioned. The work has rekindled the debate in the light of reality. Outside the United States, decommissioning is also being confronted on a new plane. (author)

Lately, there has been a mounting concern about the electromagnetic compatibility of nuclear-power-plant systems mainly because of the effects due to the nuclear electromagnetic pulse, and also because of the introduction of more-sophisticated and, therefore, more-susceptible solid-state devices into the plants. Questions have been raised about the adequacy of solid-state-device protection against plant electromagnetic-interference sources and transients due to the nuclear electromagnetic pulse. In this paper, the author briefly reviews the environment, and the coupling, susceptibility, and vulnerability assessment issues of commercial nuclear power plants

This rubric reports on 12 short notes about scientific facts, and sociological, political and environmental aspects of nuclear power in France and other countries: a new micro-beam line for the nuclear micro-probe of Pierre Sue laboratory; the French government gives permission for the filling up of the Carnet swampy site for the possible sitting of a future nuclear power plant in the Loire river estuary; incident simulation exercise at Chooz B1 in January 1997: radioactive leak and population under shelter; about Superphenix, 'Le Monde' newspaper disseminates false information; the anti-Superphenix lobby; Georges Charpak's opinion about anti-nuclear propaganda; gamma radiation in the help of cultural heritage; a new ionizing particle detector developed by the CEA; dismantling of the FR-2 experimental reactor (Karlsruhe, Germany) and the safe confinement of the reactor vessel; the Russian specialists' proposal for the transformation of Tchernobyl's sarcophagus into a monolith of concrete; Cogema's support to scientific research devoted to environment and public health; three new member countries in the World Council of Nuclear Workers (WONUC). (J.S.)

The present book describes the development of reactor safety in German light-water nuclear power plants from the beginnings with its multifarious links to model solutions seen in other countries, national and international research projects and accidents in conventional and nuclear power plants. It contains detailed, richly illustrated articles on specific safety techniques such as rupture safety of the pressurised envelope, safeguarding of emergency cooling in the event of accidents involving coolant loss, control technology and protection of the surroundings through containment. The results of national and international risk studies are discussed. It is shown how efforts on the part of industry, government and science to enhance safety resources and improve safety culture have been driven by a civic environment in which the use of nuclear energy has become a central issue of political debate. The book is written in readily comprehensible language and offers a wealth of material for further study.

Nuclear power was originally promoted as being able to produce electricity that would be open-quotes too cheap to meter.close quotes However, large construction cost overruns and rapidly rising operating costs caused many nuclear power plants instead to be very expensive sources of electricity. As a result, many nuclear utilities will face increasing cost pressures in the future competitive environment from lower-cost producers. In fact, the threat to nuclear utilities is so severe that many industry analysts are projecting that more that $70 billion of the utilities' remaining investments in nuclearplants will be open-quotes stranded,close quotes i.e., unrecoverable in the competitive environment. Others in the industry have speculated that many of the 150 major U.S. electric utilities, a large number of which are nuclear, could be swept away by competition, leaving fewer than fifty utilities. This paper will examine how utilities are attempting to improve the cost competitiveness of operating today's nuclear power plants. It will also identify some of the potential consequences of competition for nuclear power and the regulatory role of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Finally, this paper will address how the changing power markets will affect the prospects for the next generation of nuclear power plants

The development of Nuclear Power Plant Analyzers in USA is described. There are two different types of Analyzers under development in USA, the forst in Idaho and Los Alamos national Lab, the second in brookhaven National lab. That one is described in detail. The computer hardware and the mathematical models of the reactor vessel thermalhydraulics are described. (author)

The Nuclear Utility Management and Human Resources Committee (NUMARC) is a confederation of all 55 utilities with nuclearplants either in operation or under construction. NUMARC was formed in April 1984 by senior nuclear executives with hundreds of man-years of plant experience to improve (plant) performance and resolve NRC concerns. NUMARC has adopted 10 commitments in the areas of management, training, staffing and performance. One of these commitments is to strive to reduce automatic trips to 3 per year per unit for calendar year 1985 for plants in commercial operation greater than 3 years (with greater than 25% capacity factor). This goal applies to any unplanned automatic protection system trips at any time when the reactor is critical. Each utility has committed to develop methods to thoroughly evaluate all unplanned automatic trips to identify the root causes and formulate plans to correct the root causes thus reducing future unplanned scrams. As part of this program, the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) collects and evaluates information on automatic reactor trips. It publishes the results of these evaluations to aid the industry to identify root causes and corrective actions

This report surveys the usefulness and general design requirements for a large-scale database and database manager for design and analysis of nuclear power plant control systems. The control engineer's and systems integrator's need for timely, accurate, and searchable information for advanced control system design increases with competitive economics and stringent reliability demands. A philosophy is conveyed for the implementation of an integrated, comprehensive database system

During the next 10 years, nuclearplant license renewal is expected to become a significant issue. Recent Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) studies have shown license renewal to be technically and economically feasible. Filing an application for license renewal with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) entails verifying that the systems, structures, and components essential for safety will continue to perform their safety functions throughout the license renewal period. This paper discusses the current proposed requirements for this verification and the current industry knowledge regarding age-related degradation of structures. Elements of a license renewal program incorporating NRC requirements and industry knowledge including a schedule are presented. Degradation mechanisms for structural components, their significance to nuclearplant structures, and industry-suggested age-related degradation management options are also reviewed

This paper introduces a new factor, environment, into nuclear arms race model. In this model, nuclear weapons produce larger defense power compared with conventional arms, but hurt the environment meanwhile. In the global welfare maximum level, both conventional and nuclear weapons budget are zero. However, the competitive equilibrium may not achieve the optimum. I give the condition to jump out of the prisoner's dilemma.

The German risk analysis program for nuclear power plants aiming at the man and the environment is presented. An accident consequence model to calculate the radiological impact and the potential health effects is described. (E.G.) [pt

The four-member New York Power Pool Panel concluded that, for a number of reasons, no nuclear power plant in New York State is prone to the type of accident that occurred at Three Mile Island (TMI). The Panel further concluded that changes in operating practices, both regulatory and voluntary, and heightened sensitivity to reactor-core-cooling requirements will substantially reduce the chances for another such accident anywhere. Panel members found that New York State utilities have taken a responsible attitude with regard to requirements set forth by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as a result of the TMI accident. In a cover letter that accompanied the report to Federal and New York state officials, New York Power Pool Executive Committee Chairman Francis E. Drake, Jr. expressed hope that the report will alleviate public fears of nuclear reactors and promote wider acceptance of nuclear energy as an economic and safe means of power production. 17 references

Recent events suggest that nuclear reactors could make tempting military or terrorist targets. Despite the care with which most reactors are built, studies document their vulnerability to willful destruction through disruption of coolant mechanisms both inside and outside the containment building. In addition to reactors, such nuclear support facilities as fuel fabrication, reprocessing, and waste storage installations may be attractive military targets. A nuclear bomb which exploded in the vicinity of a reactor could increase its lethal effects by one-third. The implications of this is vulnerability for Middle East stability as well as to other volatile regions. The author suggests several avenues for controlling the dangers: international law, military and civil defense, facility siting, increasing plant safety, and the international management of nuclear energy. 21 references

The management of the physical environment for safety is more effective than a nuclear industry. Despite the physical environment such as lighting, noise satisfy with management standards, it can be background factors may cause human error and affect human performance. Because the consequence of extremely human error and human performance is high according to the physical environment, requirement standard could be covered with specific criteria. Particularly, in order to avoid human errors caused by an extremely low or rapidly-changing intensity illumination and masking effect such as power disconnection, plans for better visual environment and better function performances should be made as a careful study on efficient ways to manage and continue the better conditions is conducted

This patent describes a nuclear power plant. This power plant consists of: 1.) a cavity; 2.) a detonatable nuclear device in a central region of the cavity; 3.) a working fluid inside of the cavity; 4.) a method to denote a nuclear device inside of the cavity; 5.) a mechanical projection from an interior wall of the cavity for recoiling to absorb a shock wave produced by the detonation of the nuclear device and thereby protecting the cavity from damage. A plurality of segments defines a shell within the cavity and a plurality of shock absorbers, each connecting a corresponding segment to a corresponding location on the wall of the cavity. Each of these shock absorbers regulate the recoil action of the segments; and 6.) means for permitting controlled extraction of a quantity of hot gases from the cavity produced by the vaporization of the working fluid upon detonation of the nuclear device. A method of generating power is also described. This method consists of: 1.) introducing a quantity of water in an underground cavity; 2.) heating the water in the cavity to form saturated steam; 3.) detonating a nuclear device at a central location inside the cavity; 4.) recoiling plate-like elements inside the cavity away from the central location in a mechanically regulated and controlled manner to absorb a shock wave produced by the nuclear device detonation and thereby protect the underground cavity against damage; 5.) extracting a quantity of superheated steam produced by the detonation of the nuclear device; and 6.) Converting the energy in the extracted superheated steam into electrical power

The Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) is located in Zarechny, approximately 60 km east of Ekaterinberg along the Trans-Siberian Highway. Zarechny, a small city of approximately 30,000 residents, was built to support BNPP operations. It is a closed city to unescorted visitors. Residents must show identification for entry. BNPP is one of the first and oldest commercial nuclear power plants in Russia and began operations in 1964. As for most nuclear power plants in the Russian Federation, BNPP is operated by Rosenergoatom, which is subordinated to the Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation (Minatom). BNPP is the site of three nuclear reactors, Units 1, 2, and 3. Units 1 and 2, which have been shut-down and defueled, were graphite moderated reactors. The units were shut-down in 1981 and 1989. Unit 3, a BN-600 reactor, is a 600 MW(electric) sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor. Unit 3 went on-line in April 1980 and produces electric power which is fed into a distribution grid and thermal power which provides heat to Zarechny. The paper also discusses the SF NIKIET, the Sverdiovsk Branch of NIKIET, Moscow, which is the research and development branch of the parent NIKEIT and is primarily a design institute responsible for reactor design. Central to its operations is a 15 megawatt IVV research reactor. The paper discusses general security and fissile material control and accountability at these two facilities

This general review of the operation of the Finnish nuclear power plants concentrates on such events and discoveries related to nuclear and radiation safety as the regulatory body, the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, regards as noteworthy. The report also includes a summary of the radiation safety of the personnel and the environment, as well as tabulated data on the production and load factors of the plants. In the report period, no event essentially degraded plant safety nor posed a radiation hazard to the personnel or the environment

This general review of the operation of the Finnish nuclear power plants concentrates on such events and discoveries related to nuclear and radiation safety as the regulatory body, the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, regards as noteworthy. The report also includes a summary of the radiation safety of the personnel and the environment, as well as tabulated data on the production and load factors of the plants. In the report period, no event essentially degraded plant safety nor posed a radiation hazard to the personnel or the environment

This general review of the operation of the Finnish nuclear power plants concentrates on such events and discoveries related to nuclear and radiation safety as the regulatory body, the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, regards as noteworthy. The report also includes a summary of the radiation safety of the personnel and the environment, as well as tabulated data on the production and load factors of the plants. In the report period, no event essentially degraded plant safety nor posed a radiation hazard to the personnel or the environment

This general review of the operation of the Finnish nuclear power plants concentrates on such events and discoveries related to nuclear and radiation safety as the regulatory body, the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, regards as noteworthy. The report also includes a summary of the radiation safety of the personnel and the environment, as well as tabulated data on the production and load factors of the plants. In the report period, no event essentially degraded plant safety nor posed a radiation hzard to the personnel or the environment

This general review of the operation of the Finnish nuclear power plants concentrates on such events and discoveries related to nuclear and radiation safety as the regulatory body, the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, regards as noteworthy. The report also includes a summary of the radiation safety of the personnel and the environment, as well as tubulated data on the production and load factors of the plants. In the report period, no event essentially degraded plant safety nor posed a radiation hazard to the personnel or the environment

In nuclear power plants large amounts of radioactive fission products ensue from the fission of uranium. In order to protect the environment, the radioactive material is confined in multiple 'activity barriers' (crystal matrix of the fuel, fuel cladding, coolant boundary, safety containment, reactor building). These barriers are protected by applying a defense-in-depth concept (high quality requirements, protection systems which recognize and terminate operational incidents, safety systems to cope with accidents). In spite of a favorable safety record of German nuclear power plants it is obvious - and became most evident by the Chernobyl accident - that absolute safety is not achievable. At Chernobyl, however, design disadvantages of that reactor type (like positive reactivity feedback of coolant voiding, missing safety containment) played an important role in accident initiation and progression. Such features of the Russian 'graphite-moderated pressure tube boiling water reactor' are different from those of light water reactors operating in western countries. The essential steps of the waste management of the nuclear fuel cycle ('Entsorgung') are the interim storage, the shipment, and the reprocessing of the spent fuel and the final repository of radioactive waste. Reprocessing means the separation of fossil material (uranium, plutonium) from radioactive waste. Legal requirements for radiological protection of the environment, which are identical for nuclear power plants and reprocessing plant, are complied with by means of comprehensive filter systems. Safety problems of a reprocessing plant are eased considerably by the fact that system pressures, process temperatures and energy densities are low. In order to confine the radioactive waste from the biosphere for a very long period of time, it is to be discarded after appropriate treatment into the deep geological underground of salt domes. (orig./HP) [de

Quarterly reports on the operation of Finnish nuclear power plants describe events and observations, relating to nuclear safety and radiation protection which the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety considers safety significant. Safety-enhancing modifications at the nuclear power plants and issues relating to the use of nuclear energy which are of general interest are also reported. The reports include a summary of the radiation safety of plant personnel and the environment, as well as tabulated data on the production and load factors of the plants. In the first quarter of 1993, a primary feedwater system pipe break occurred at Loviisa 2, in a section of piping after a feedwater pump. The break was erosion-corrosion induced. Repairs and inspections interrupted power generation for seven days. On the International Nuclear Event Scale the event is classified as a level 2 incident. Other events in the first quarter of 1993 had no bearing on nuclear safety and radiation protection

The NuclearPlant Data Bank (NPDB) is being developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory to assist analysts in the rapid and accurate creation of input decks for reactor transient analysis. The NPDB will reduce the time and cost of the creation or modification of a typical input deck. This data bank will be an invaluable tool in the timely investigation of recent and ongoing nuclear reactor safety analysis. This paper discusses the status and plans for the NPDB development and describes its anticipated structure and capabilities

This dossier deals with protection of nuclear installations against external risks. The articles come from the presentations of the Conference on 'Nuclear installations and their environment', held by the 'Safety and Environment Protection' Section of the French Nuclear Energy Society on October 15, 2002. Floods, earthquakes, winter cold, snow-falls, wind, fires are the main natural risks taken into account. Risks from industrial environment and communication lines are also considered. (authors)

The SENA nuclear power plant continued to operate, as before, at authorized rated power, namely 905MWth during the first half year and 950MWth during the second half year. Net energy production:2028GWh; hours phased to the line: 7534H; availability factor: 84%; utilization factor: 84%; total shutdowns:19; number of scrams:10; cost per KWh: 4,35 French centimes. Overall, the plant is performing very satisfactory. Over the last three years net production has been 5900GWh, corresponding to in average utilization factor of 83%

The invention is aimed at designing a nuclear power plant with a heat transfer system which permits an accelerated fuel regeneration maintaining relatively high initial steam values and efficiency of the steam power circuit. In case of a plant with three circuits the secondary cooling circuit includes a steam generator with preheater, evaporator, steam superheater and intermediate steam superheater. At the heat supply side the latter is connected with its inlet to the outlet of the evaporator and with its outlet to the low-temperature side of the secondary circuit

The safe operation of complex systems such as nuclear power plants requires close coordination between the human operators and plant systems. In order to maintain an adequate level of safety following an accident or other off-normal event, the operators often are called upon to perform complex tasks during dynamic situations with incomplete information. The safety of such complex systems can be greatly improved if the conditions that could lead operators to make poor decisions and commit erroneous actions during these situations can be predicted and mitigated. The primary goal of this research project was the development and validation of a cognitive model capable of simulating nuclearplant operator decision-making during accident conditions. Dynamic probabilistic risk assessment methods can improve the prediction of human error events by providing rich contextual information and an explicit consideration of feedback arising from man-machine interactions. The Accident Dynamics Simulator paired with the Information, Decision, and Action in a Crew context cognitive model (ADS-IDAC) shows promise for predicting situational contexts that might lead to human error events, particularly knowledge driven errors of commission. ADS-IDAC generates a discrete dynamic event tree (DDET) by applying simple branching rules that reflect variations in crew responses to plant events and system status changes. Branches can be generated to simulate slow or fast procedure execution speed, skipping of procedure steps, reliance on memorized information, activation of mental beliefs, variations in control inputs, and equipment failures. Complex operator mental models of plant behavior that guide crew actions can be represented within the ADS-IDAC mental belief framework and used to identify situational contexts that may lead to human error events. This research increased the capabilities of ADS-IDAC in several key areas. The ADS-IDAC computer code was improved to support additional

The Creys-Malville nuclearplant, located on the left bank of the Rhone, was shut down in 1998. The facilities are currently in their initial stage of dismantling. In order to establish a baseline for tritium in the vicinity of the site prior to the main dismantling phase, we carried out a monitoring program between 2002 and 2005 in the main terrestrial and aquatic compartments of the local environment. Tritium levels in the groundwaters and in the Rhone waters correspond to the regional tritium concentration in precipitation. The data obtained for the terrestrial environment are also in good agreement with the regional background and do not show any specific signature linked to the nuclearplant. The various aquatic compartments of the Rhone (fish, plant, sediment) are significantly enriched in tritium both upstream and downstream of the power plant: although Tissue-Free Water Tritium concentrations are in equilibrium with the river water, the non-exchangeable fraction of organic bound tritium in plants and fishes shows values which outpace the river water background by one to two orders of magnitude, and up to four to five orders of magnitude in the sediments. This tritium anomaly is not related to the nuclearplant, as it is already present at the Swiss border 100 km upstream of the site. Although fine particles of tritiated polystyrene entering the composition of the luminous paints used by the clock industry have been suspected on several occasions, the exact nature and the origin of this tritium source remain unknown and require further investigations

This report summarizes the main results from the environment monitoring sampling for the years 1984-1991 around the nuclear power plant at Barsebaeck, southern Sweden. The sampling are required according to the environment monitoring programme which has been decided upon by the Swedish Radiation Protection Inst. Terrestrial samples include cultivated plants, natural vegetation, milk, some other foods of animal origin and sludge. From the aquatic environment, samples of sea water, bottom sediments, benthic fauna, algae and fish are collected. This report accounts for all samples that have been measured during the period 1984-1991. The diagrams also include data from the years 1981-1983. The annual discharge to air and to water resulted during the years 1984-1991 in a dose commitment to a critical group which generally amounted to less than 2 micro-sievert (which equals 2 per cent of the maximum permitted, viz. one Norm release). The annual radiation dose outside the power plant has always been found less than 0.2% of that from the background radiation. Outside the plant, only very small quantities of radionuclides were detected which could be related to its operation. Radionuclides from the power plant have not with certainty been detected in cultivated plants, milk, and meat produced in the vicinity of the power plant. On the other hand small quantities of Co-60 and Zn-65 from the plant were detected in, for instance, some samples of eel and cod from stations close to the plant. In 1985 and 1989, special sediment sampling were carried out at 12 stations off Barsebaeck. One aim was to investigate whether any accumulation of radionuclides from Barsebaeck in bottom sediments had occurred during the period. There was no clear evidence of any such accumulation. 15 refs, 22 figs, 16 tabs

Purpose: To prevent corrosion stress cracks in structural materials in a BWR type nuclear power plant by decreasing the oxygen concentration in the reactor coolants. Constitution: A hydrogen injector is connected between the condensator and a condensate clean up system of a nuclear power plant. The injector is incorporated with hydrogenated compounds formed from metal hydrides, for example, of alloys such as lanthanum-nickel alloy, iron titanium alloy, vanadium, palladium, magnesium-copper alloy, magnesium-nickel alloy and the like. Even if the pressure of hydrogen obtained from a hydrogen bomb or by way of water electrolysis is changed, the hydrogen can always be injected into a reactor coolant at a pressure equal to the equilibrium dissociation pressure for metal hydride by introducing the hydrogen into the hydrogen injector. (Seki, T.)

The invention concerns a quick-acting valve on the main-steam pipe of a nuclear power plant. The engineering design of the valve is to be improved. To the main valve disc, a piston-operated auxiliary valve disc is to be assigned closing a section of the area of the main valve disc. This way it is avoided that the drive of the main valve disc has to carry out different movements. 15 sub-claims. (UWI) [de

Expert robots enhance a safety and operations in nuclearplants. E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Savannah River Laboratory, is developing expert mobile robots for deployment in nuclear applications at the Savannah River Plant. Knowledge-based expert systems are being evaluated to simplify operator control, to assist in navigation and manipulation functions, and to analyze sensory information. Development work using two research vehicles is underway to demonstrate semiautonomous, intelligence, expert robot system operation in process areas. A description of the mechanical equipment, control systems, and operating modes is presented, including the integration of onboard sensors. A control hierarchy that uses modest computational methods is being used to allow mobile robots to autonomously navigate and perform tasks in known environments without the need for large computer systems

Expert robots will enhance safety and operations in nuclearplants. E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Savannah River Laboratory, is developing expert mobile robots for deployment in nuclear applications at the Savannah River Plant. Knowledge-based expert systems are being evaluated to simplify operator control, to assist in navigation and manipulation functions, and to analyze sensory information. Development work using two research vehicles is underway to demonstrate semiautonomous, intelligent, expert robot system operation in process areas. A description of the mechanical equipment, control systems, and operating modes is presented, including the integration of onboard sensors. A control hierarchy that uses modest computational methods is being used to allow mobile robots to autonomously navigate and perform tasks in known environments without the need for large computer systems

We are continuously investigating the effect of persistent exposure to low level radiation on Japanese Black cattle kept on 3 ranches as well as their rearing environment inside the 'difficult-to-return zone' due to Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. The spatial radiation dose rate at 1 m above ground was 40 μSv/h in the spring of 2013 but it decreased to about 20 μSv/h after 1 year 7 months. Accumulated spatial radiation dose throughout the year of was 220 mSv and exposure dose of cattle throughout that year was 170 mSv. The effect of radiation exposure due to the nuclear power plant disaster has not been clearly recognized in cattle. (author)

Access to energy is one of the basic requirements for human development. To meet these growing energy needs without creating negative side effects is a challenge. The possibility of global climate change resulting from an increase in GHG concentrations in the atmosphere due to developmental activities is a major global concern. India is passing through the process of economic growth. Although India has not created the problem of climate change, India stands ready to be a part of the solution. The largest chunk of emissions was from electricity generation amounting to 65 percent of the total CO 2 equivalent emissions from the energy sector. Nuclear energy and renewables stand as sources for electricity with minimum GHG emission. Production of electricity from any form of primary energy has some environmental effect. A balanced assessment is needed. Nuclear power is of importance to India because it has potentially unlimited resource base, does not emit GHGs and, depending on location, has potentially favourable economics versus coal. In the long term, if we are to preserve the environment, it will be necessary to tap this source to the maximum extent feasible, In nuclear power stations, all its wastes are contained. India being home to nearly a third of the entire world's thorium, the strategies for large scale deployment of nuclear energy is focused towards utilization of thorium. The electricity potential of 3-stage programme is estimated to be about 2 lakh GWe-yr. Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited is currently operating 20 reactors and has accumulated more than 337 reactor-years of experience in safe operation. A defence-in-depth approach is at the heart of safety philosophy, where there are several lines of defence, one backing another. Radiation is relevant for nuclear, coal, oil, gas and geothermal power plants. The essential task is to prevent excessive amounts now or in the future. One of the guiding principles adopted is to ensure that radiation

A general view about the use of energy for brazilian development is presented. The international situation of the nuclear field and the pacific utilization of nuclear energy in Brazil are commented. The safety concepts used for reactor and nuclear facilities licensing, the environmental monitoring program and radiation protection program used in Brazil are described. (E.G.) [pt

The future development of our environment also depends very much on our success, in the long run, to come to grips with the problems associated with energy production, not only in this country, but in the whole of Europe and worldwide. For this purpose, a new starting point for international cooperation was established at the 1992 UN Environmental Summit. The Climate Convention was signed by the German Federal Government in late 1992. One of the most pressing problems in global environmental protection is the danger posed by nuclear power plants in Central and Eastern Europe. International and German national support programs have already been launched to improve the situation. The solution to global environmental problems must incorporate a national energy consensus encompassing all sources of energy. (orig.) [de

Power uprating for commercial nuclear power plants has become increasingly attractive because of pragmatic reasons. It provides quick return on investment and competitive financial benefits, while involving low risks regarding plant safety and public objection. This paper briefly discussed nuclearplant uprating guidelines, scope for design basis analysis and engineering evaluation, and presented the Salem nuclear power plant uprating study for illustration purposes. A cost and benefit evaluation of the Salem power uprating was also included. (author)

Again this year, our magazine presents the details of the conference on Spanish nuclear power plant operation held in February and that was devoted to 1996 operating results. The Protocol for Establishment of a New Electrical Sector Regulation that was signed last December will undoubtedly represent a new challenge for the nuclear industry. By clearing stating that current standards of quality and safety should be maintained or even increased if possible, the Protocol will force the Sector to improve its productivity, which is already high as demonstrated by the results of the last few years described during this conference and by recent sectorial economic studies. Generation of a nuclear kWh that can compete with other types of power plants is the new challenge for the Sector's professionals, who do not fear the new liberalization policies and approaching competition. Lower inflation and the resulting lower interest rates, apart from being representative indices of our economy's marked improvement, will be very helpful in facing this challenge. (Author)

This pamphlet is designed to answer many of the questions that have arisen about nuclear power plants and the environment. It is organized into a question and answer format, with the questions taken from those most often asked by the public. Topics include regulation of nuclear power sources, potential dangers to people's health, whether nuclear…

In 1983 the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) commissioned the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) to develop a NuclearPlant Analyzer (NPA). The NPA was envisioned as a graphical aid to assist reactor safety analysts in comprehending the results of thermal-hydraulic code calculations. The development was to proceed in three distinct phases culminating in a desktop reactor safety workstation. The desktop NPA is now complete. The desktop NPA is a microcomputer based reactor transient simulation, visualization and analysis tool developed at INEL to assist an analyst in evaluating the transient behavior of nuclear power plants by means of graphic displays. The NPA desktop workstation integrates advanced reactor simulation codes with online computer graphics allowing reactor plant transient simulation and graphical presentation of results. The graphics software, written exclusively in ANSI standard C and FORTRAN 77 and implemented over the UNIX/X-windows operating environment, is modular and is designed to interface to the NRC's suite of advanced thermal-hydraulic codes to the extent allowed by that code. Currently, full, interactive, desktop NPA capabilities are realized only with RELAP5

The first edition of this journal is devoted to the policies and problems of siting nuclear power plants and the question of how far commercial reactors should be placed from urban areas. The article is divided into four major siting issues: policies, risk evaluation, accident consequences, and economic and physical constraints. One concern is how to treat currently operating reactors and those under construction that were established under less-stringent criteria if siting is to be used as a way to limit the consequences of accidents. Mehanical cost-benefit analyses are not as appropriate as the systematic use of empirical observations in assessing the values involved. Stricter siting rules are justified because (1) opposition because of safety is growing: (2) remote siting will make the industry more stable; (3) the conflict is eliminated between regulatory policies and the probability basis for nuclear insurance; and (4) joint ownership of utilities and power-pooling are increasing. 227 references, 7 tables

The possibility of a nuclear power plant disaster is small but not excluded: in its event, assistance to the affected population mainly depends on local practitioners. Already existing diseases have to be diagnosed and treated; moreover, these physicians are responsible for the early detection of those individuals exposed to radiation doses high enough to induce acute illness. Here we present the pathogenesis, clinical development and possible diagnostic and therapeutical problems related to acute radiation-induced diseases. The differentiation of persons according to therapy need and prognosis is done on the sole base of the clinical evidence and the peripheral blood count. (orig.) [de

The invention is concerned with a quick-closing valve on the main-steam pipe of a nuclear reactor plant. The quick-closing valve serves as isolating valve and as safety valve permitting depressurization in case of an accident. For normal operation a tube-shaped gate valve is provided as valve disc, enclosing an auxiliary valve disc to be used in case of accidents and which is opened at increased pressure to provide a smaller flow cross-section. The design features are described in detail. (RW) [de

The criteria of design and safety, applied internationally to systems and components of PWR type reactors, are described. The main criteria of the design analysed are: thermohydraulic optimization; optimized arrangement of buildings and components; low costs of energy generation; high level of standardization; application of specific safety criteria for nuclear power plants. The safety criteria aim to: assure the safe reactor shutdown; remove the residual heat and; avoid the release of radioactive elements for environment. Some exemples of safety criteria are given for Angra-2 and Angra-3 reactors. (M.C.K.) [pt

These general reviews of the operation of the Finnish nuclear power plants concentrate on such events and discoveries related to reactor and radiation safety that the regulatory body, the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, regards as noteworthy. The report also includes a summary of the radiation safety of the personnel and the environment, as well as tabulated data on the production and load factors of the plants. In the report period, no event essentially degraded plant safety nor posed a radiation hazard to the personnel or the environment. (author)

These general reviews of the operation of the Finnish nuclear power plants concentrate on such events and discoveries related to reactor and radiation safety that the regulatory body, the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, regards as significant. In the report period, no event essentially degraded plant safety nor posed a radiation hazard to the personnel or the environment. The report also includes a summary of the radiation safety of the personnel and the environment and tabulated data on the production and capacity factors of the plants. (author)

These general reviews of the operation of the Finnish nuclear power plants concentrate on such events and discoveries related to reactor and radiation safety that the regulatory body, the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, regards as significant. In the report period, no event essentially degraded plant safety nor posed a radiation hazard to the personnel or the environment. The report also includes a summary of the radiation safety of the personnel and the environment and tabulated data on the production and load factors of the plants. (author)

This general review of the operation of the Finnish nuclear power plants in the second quarter of the year 1984 concentrates on such events and discoveries related to reactor and radiation safety that the regulatory body, the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, regards as significant. In the report period, no event essentially degraded plant safety nor posed a radiation hazard to the personnel or the environment. The report also includes a summary of the radiation safety of the personnel and the environment and tabulated data on the production and availability of the plants. (author)

This general review of the operation of the Finnish nuclear power plants in the third quarter of the year 1984 concentrates on such events and discoveries related to reactor and radiation safety that the regulatory body, the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, regards as significant. In the report period, no event essentially degraded plant safety nor posed a radiation hazard to the personnel or the environment. The report also includes a summary of the radiation safety of the personnel and the environment and tabulated data on the production and capacity factors of the plants. (author)

During the period under review, the Garigliano power station produced 1,028,77 million kWh with a utilization factor of 73,41% and an availability factor of 85,64%. The disparity between the utilization and availability factors was mainly due to a shutdown of about one and half months owing to lack of staff at the plant. The reasons for nonavailability (14.36%) break down as follows: nuclear reasons 11,49%; conventional reasons 2,81%; other reasons 0,06%. During the period under review, no fuel replacements took place. The plant functioned throughout with a single reactor reticulation pump and resulting maximum available capacity of 150 MWe gross. After the month of August, the plant was operated at levels slightly below the maximum available capacity in order to lengthen the fuel cycle. The total number of outages during the period under review was 11. Since the plant was brought into commercial operation, it has produced 9.226 million kWh

Probabilistic risk analyses of nuclear power plants are carried out by systematically analyzing the possible consequences of a broad spectrum of causes of accidents. The risk can be expressed in the probabilities for melt down, radioactive releases, or harmful effects for the environment. Following risk policies for chemical installations as expressed in the mandatory nature of External Safety Reports (EVRs) or, e.g., the publication ''How to deal with risks'', probabilistic risk analyses are required for nuclear power plants

The environment of the Moon is nearly vacant, which has very low density of several kinds of gases. It has the molecular level contents of the lunar atmosphere in Table 1, which is recognized that radiation heat transfer is a major cooling method. The coolant of the nuclear power plant (NPP) in the lunar base is the Moon surface soil , which is known as the regolith. The regolith is the layer of loose and heterogeneous material covering the solid rock. For finding the optimized length of the radiator of the coolant in the lunar NPP, the produced power and Moon environmental temperature are needed. This makes the particular heat transfer characteristics in heat transfer in the Moon surface. The radiation is the only heat transfer way due to very weak atmosphere. It is very cold in the night time and very hot in the daytime on the surface of the ground. There are comparisons between lunar high land soil and Earth averages in Table 2. In the historical consideration, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky made a suggestion for the colony on the Moon.. There are a number of ideas for the conceptual design which have been proposed by several scientists. In 1954, Arthur C. Clarke mentioned a lunar base of inflatable modules covered in lunar dust for insulation. John S. Rinehart suggested the structure of the stationary ocean of dust, because there could be a mile-deep dust ocean on the Moon, which gives a safer design. In 1959, the project horizon was launched regarding the U.S. Army's plan to establish a fort on the Moon by 1967. H. H. Koelle, a German rocket engineer of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, leaded the project (ABMA). There was the first landing in 1965 and 245 tons of cargos were transported to the outpost by 1966. The coolant material of regolith in the Moon is optimized for the NPP. By the simulation, there are some results. The temperature is calculated as the 9 nodals by radiation heat transfer from the potassium coolant to the regolith flow. The high efficiency

The environment of the Moon is nearly vacant, which has very low density of several kinds of gases. It has the molecular level contents of the lunar atmosphere in Table 1, which is recognized that radiation heat transfer is a major cooling method. The coolant of the nuclear power plant (NPP) in the lunar base is the Moon surface soil , which is known as the regolith. The regolith is the layer of loose and heterogeneous material covering the solid rock. For finding the optimized length of the radiator of the coolant in the lunar NPP, the produced power and Moon environmental temperature are needed. This makes the particular heat transfer characteristics in heat transfer in the Moon surface. The radiation is the only heat transfer way due to very weak atmosphere. It is very cold in the night time and very hot in the daytime on the surface of the ground. There are comparisons between lunar high land soil and Earth averages in Table 2. In the historical consideration, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky made a suggestion for the colony on the Moon.. There are a number of ideas for the conceptual design which have been proposed by several scientists. In 1954, Arthur C. Clarke mentioned a lunar base of inflatable modules covered in lunar dust for insulation. John S. Rinehart suggested the structure of the stationary ocean of dust, because there could be a mile-deep dust ocean on the Moon, which gives a safer design. In 1959, the project horizon was launched regarding the U.S. Army's plan to establish a fort on the Moon by 1967. H. H. Koelle, a German rocket engineer of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, leaded the project (ABMA). There was the first landing in 1965 and 245 tons of cargos were transported to the outpost by 1966. The coolant material of regolith in the Moon is optimized for the NPP. By the simulation, there are some results. The temperature is calculated as the 9 nodals by radiation heat transfer from the potassium coolant to the regolith flow. The high efficiency

The activity concentration of 137Cs, 131I, 65Zn, 60Co, 58Co, 54Mn, and 40K were determined in samples of brown seaweed (Fucus) and some other marine plants using low background high-resolution gamma-spectrometry. The algae were mainly sampled in the bay just north of the Barsebaeck NPP (55.4 N, 12.6 E) in the south of Sweden to study the contamination levels in the nearest shallow waters. One aim of the study was to investigate whether the levels were high enough to expect environmental effects. Some samples were also taken at longer distances up to 130 km from the Barsebaeck NPP. Measurable levels of the neutron activation products 65Zn (up to 17 Bq/kg dw), 60Co (100-600 Bq/kg dw), 58Co (1-160 Bq/kg dw) and 54Mn (12-90 Bq/kg dw) were found in the algae samples within a distance of 5 km from the plant. The decrease in activity concentration with distance from the plant could be described by a power function with an exponent ranging from 1.4 to 2.4. This was in fair agreement with the value for a true two-dimensional dispersion model. The present-day concentrations were found to be considerably lower than in earlier studies made in the late 1970s, especially for 65Zn and 58Co. The activity concentration of gamma emitting radio-nuclides in Fucus vesiculosus from the bay just north of Barsebaeck is today dominated by (in order of decreasing concentration): natural 40K, 60Co from the plant, 137Cs mainly from the Chernobyl debris, 54Mn and 58Co from the plant. It is not likely that any effects from the very marginal absorbed dose contribution from the Barsebaeck NPP releases can be found even in the nearest environment. The study has also shown that the eelgrass Zostera marina may be a bioindicator to use in further studies of the radiation environment in shallow water, especially for 60Co and 54Mn. (author)(tk)

The guide sets forth detailed requirements on how the licensee of a nuclear power plant shall plan, implement and maintain emergency response arrangements. The guide is also applied to nuclear material and nuclear waste transport in situations referred to in guide YVL 6.5. Requirements on physical protection are presented in a separate guide of Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK)

In the Quarterly Reports on the operation of the Finnish nuclear power plants such events and observations are described relating to nuclear and radiation safety which the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety considers safety significant. Also other events of general interest are reported. The report also includes a summary of the radiation safety of the plants' workers and the environment, as well as tabulated data on the production and load factors of the plants. The Finnish nuclear power plant units Loviisa 1 and 2 as well as TVO I and II were in commercial operation during the whole first quarter of 1991. The load factor average was 99.1 %. Failures have been detected in the uppermost spacing lattices of nuclear fuel bundles removed from the Loviisa nuclear reactors. Further investigations into the significance of the failures have been initiated. In this quarter, renewed cooling systems for the instrumentation area were introduced at Loviisa 1. The modifications made in the systems serve to ensure reliable cooling of the area even during the hottest summer months when the possibility exists that the temperature of the automation equipment could rise too high causing malfunctions which could endanger plant safety. Occupational radiation doses and external releases of radioactivity were below prescribed limits in this quarter. Only small amounts of radioactive substances originating in nuclear power plants were detected in samples taken in the vicinity of nuclear power plants

The radionuclide {sup 14}C is produced in all types of nuclear reactors mainly by neutron induced reactions in oxygen ({sup 17}O), nitrogen ({sup 14}N) and carbon ({sup 13}C). Part of the {sup 14}C created is continuously released during normal operation as airborne effluents in various chemical forms (such as CO{sub 2}, CO and hydrocarbons) to the surroundings. Because of the biological importance of carbon and the long physical half-life of {sup 14}C, it is of interest to measure the releases and their incorporation into living material. The {sup 14}C activity concentrations in annual tree rings and air around two Swedish nuclear power plants (Barsebaeck and Forsmark) as well as the background {sup 14}C activity levels from two reference sites in southern Sweden during 1973-1996 are presented in this report. In order to verify the reliability of the method some investigations have been conducted at two foreign nuclear sites, Sellafield fuel reprocessing plant in England, and Pickering nuclear generating station in Canada, where the releases of {sup 14}C are known to be substantial. Furthermore, results from some measurements in the vicinity of Paldiski submarine training centre in Estonia are presented. The results of the {sup 14}C measurements of air, vegetation and annual tree rings around the two Swedish nuclear power plants show very low enhancements of {sup 14}C, if at all above the uncertainty of the measurements. Even if the accuracy of the measurements of the annual tree rings is rather good (1-2%) the contribution of {sup 14}C from the reactors to the environment is so small that it is difficult to separate it from the prevailing background levels of {sup 14}C . This is the case for all sampling procedures: in air and vegetation as well as in annual tree rings. Only on a few occasions an actual increase is observed. However, although the calculations suffer from rather large uncertainties, the calculated release rate from Barsebaeck is in fair agreement

The goal of this paper is to evaluate the environmental monitoring around the Almirante Alvaro Alberto Nuclear Power Station after the beginning the operation of Unit II, in July 2000. The Environmental Monitoring Laboratory collects several environmental samples and analyses them radiometrically to determine the presence of artificial radionuclides. In the Environmental Monitoring Laboratory, the samples are prepared and analysed following international procedures and the activities of the detectable radionuclides are obtained by gamma spectrometry. The Environmental Monitoring Laboratory analyses tritium in sea water as well. This paper will describe only the monitoring of the marine samples and the results of the measurements are compared with those obtained in pre-operational time of Angra 1 (1978 - 1982), Angra 2 (1996 - 2000) and those obtained in operational time of the units until 2008. The results show that, since 1982 until now, there is no impact on marine environment caused by the operation of Angra 1 and Angra 2. (author)

Aimed at the general public this leaflet, one of a series prepared by AEA Technology, on behalf of the British Nuclear Industry Forum, seeks to put the case for generating electricity to meet United Kingdom and world demand using nuclear power. It examines the environmental problems linked to the use of fossil-fuels in power stations and other uses, such as the Greenhouse Effect. Problems associated with excess carbon dioxide emissions are also discussed, such as acid rain, the effects of deforestation and lead in petrol. The role of renewable energy sources is mentioned briefly. The leaflet also seeks to reassure on issues such as nuclear waste managements and the likelihood and effects of nuclear accidents. (UK)

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are appealing options for the health monitoring of nuclear power plants due to their low cost and flexibility. Before they can be used in highly regulated nuclearenvironments, their reliability in the nuclearenvironment and compatibility with existing devices have to be assessed. In situ electromagnetic interference tests, wireless signal propagation tests, and nuclear radiation hardness tests conducted on candidate WSN systems at AECL Chalk River Labs are presented. The results are favourable to WSN in nuclear applications. (author)

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are appealing options for the health monitoring of nuclear power plants due to their low cost and flexibility. Before they can be used in highly regulated nuclearenvironments, their reliability in the nuclearenvironment and compatibility with existing devices have to be assessed. In situ electromagnetic interference tests, wireless signal propagation tests, and nuclear radiation hardness tests conducted on candidate WSN systems at AECL Chalk River Labs are presented. The results are favourable to WSN in nuclear applications. (author)

The guide applies to the nuclear power plant operator licensing procedure referred to the section 128 of the Finnish Nuclear Energy Degree. The licensing procedure applies to shift supervisors and those operators of the shift teams of nuclear power plant units who manipulate the controls of nuclear power plants systems in the main control room. The qualification requirements presented in the guide also apply to nuclear safety engineers who work in the main control room and provide support to the shift supervisors, operation engineers who are the immediate superiors of shift supervisors, heads of the operational planning units and simulator instructors. The operator licensing procedure for other nuclear facilities are decided case by case. The requirements for the basic education, work experience and the initial, refresher and complementary training of nuclear power plant operating personnel are presented in the YVL guide 1.7. (2 refs.)

The environmental question is currently the greater preoccupation all the world, particularly, the atmospheric pollution, generating the acid rains and the heater effect. The transportation, residential, agricultural, industrial and electric sectors contribute for the atmospheric pollution. In this work, the author analyzes important actions in Europe and United States of America in order to reduce this pollution. The paper intends to demystifies that the nuclear energy would be harmful to the environment, demonstrating exactly the contrary - due to the emission cares and controls coming from the nuclear power plants, this source of electric energy generation constitutes is an important factor of environment protection

This study was conducted to check and see, using Hayashi's quantification method III, whether or not the respondents differed in their images of a nuclear power plant, depending on their demographic variables particularly occupations. In our simple tabulation, we compared subject groups of nuclear power plant employees with general citizens, nurses and students in terms of their images of a nuclear power plant. The results were that while the nuclear power plant employees were high in their evaluations of facts about a nuclear power plant and in their positive images of a nuclear power plant, general citizens, nurses and students were overwhelmingly high in their negative images of a nuclear power plant. In our analysis on category score by means of the quantification method III, the first correlation axis was the dimension of 'safety'-'danger' and the second correlation axis was the dimension of 'subjectivity'-'objectivity', and that the first quadrant was the area of 'safety-subjectivity', the second quadrant was the area of 'danger-subjectivity', the third quadrant as the area of 'danger-objectivity', and the forth quadrant was the area of 'safety-objectivity'. In our analysis of sample score, 16 occupation groups was compared. As a result, it was found that the 16 occupation groups' images of a nuclear power plant were, in the order of favorableness, (1) section chiefs in charge, maintenance subsection chiefs, maintenance foremen, (2) field leaders from subcontractors, (3) maintenance section members, operation section members, (4) employees of those subcontractors, (5) general citizens, nurses and students. On the 'safety-danger' dimension, nuclear power plant workers on the one hand and general citizens, nurses and students on the other were clearly divided in terms of their images of a nuclear power plant. Nuclear power plant workers were concentrated in the area of 'safety' and general citizens, nurses and students in the area of 'danger'. (J.P.N.)

From the beginning of 2002, Troyes prefecture has initiated a reflection about the management of a nuclear crisis caused by an accident at the Nogent-sur-Seine nuclear power plant. Five workshops have been created, dealing with the following themes: 'Administrative and economic organization', 'Health risk assessment and the epidemiology', 'Monitoring of environment', 'Movement in the contaminated area' and 'Decontamination of soil and Food chain'. The first results of the 'Decontamination of soil and Food chain' working group, which involves the District Agricultural and Forestry Department, the Farmer's Association, the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety and the Veterinary Division are presented in the poster. The scenario that had been developed for the accident considers the release of 3 radionuclides ( 131 I, 134 Cs and 137 Cs) in the environment. The scale of the crisis didn't require the evacuation and the sheltering of the population during the emergency phase. The consequences on the local agricultural products (cereal, beetroot, vine, milk, cow meat...) have been assessed up to 50 km and different strategies of agricultural countermeasures have been studied regarding to the local constraints (soil types, surfaces and quantities concerned) and to the consequences of their implementation (waste types and quantities, costs). Then, decision-making diagrams summed up the technical results and allowed to deepen the global thought. (author)

Trace U was released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) during the meltdowns, but the speciation of the released components of the nuclear fuel remains unknown. We report, for the first time, the atomic-scale characteristics of nanofragments of the nuclear fuels that were released from the FDNPP into the environment. Nanofragments of an intrinsic U-phase were discovered to be closely associated with radioactive cesium-rich microparticles (CsMPs) in paddy soils collected ∼4 km from the FDNPP. The nanoscale fuel fragments were either encapsulated by or attached to CsMPs and occurred in two different forms: (i) UO 2+X nanocrystals of ∼70 nm size, which are embedded into magnetite associated with Tc and Mo on the surface and (ii) Isometric (U,Zr)O 2+X nanocrystals of ∼200 nm size, with the U/(U+Zr) molar ratio ranging from 0.14 to 0.91, with intrinsic pores (∼6 nm), indicating the entrapment of vapors or fission-product gases during crystallization. These results document the heterogeneous physical and chemical properties of debris at the nanoscale, which is a mixture of melted fuel and reactor materials, reflecting the complex thermal processes within the FDNPP reactor during meltdown. Still CsMPs are an important medium for the transport of debris fragments into the environment in a respirable form.

The decision of the Federal Court of Administration concerns an application for immediate decommissioning of a nuclear power plant (Wuergassen reactor): The repeal of the permit granted. The decision dismisses the appeal for non-admission lodged by the plaintiffs against the ruling of the Higher Court of Administration (OVG) of North-Rhine Westphalia of December 19th 1988 (File no. 21 AK 8/88). As to the matter in dispute, the Federal Court of Administration confirms the opinion of the Higher Court of Administration. As to the headnotes, reference can be made to that decision. Federal Court of Administration, decision of April 5th 1989 - 7 B 47.89. Lower instance: OVG NW, Az.: 21 AK 8/88. (orig./RST) [de

In the first embodiment of the present invention, elements less activated by neutrons are used as reactor core structural materials placed under high neutron irradiation. In the second embodiment of the present invention, materials less activated by neutrons when corrosive materials intrude to a reactor core are used as structural materials constituting portions where corrosion products are generated. In the third embodiment, chemical species comprising elements less activated by neutrons are used as chemical species to be added to reactor water with an aim of controlling water quality. A nuclear power plant causing less radioactivity can be provided by using structural materials comprising a group of specific elements hardly forming radioactivity by activation of neutrons or by controlling isotope ratios. (N.H.)

A nuclear power plant is described which includes a steam generator supplied via an input inlet with feedwater heated by reactor coolant to generate steam, the steam being conducted to a steam engine having a high pressure stage to which the steam is supplied, and which exhausts the steam through a reheater to a low pressure stage. The reheater is a heat exchanger requiring a supply of hot fluid. To avoid the extra load that would be placed on the steam generator by using a portion of its steam output as such heating fluid, a portion of the water in the steam generator is removed and passed through the reheater, this water having received at least adequate heating in the steam generator to make the reheater effective, but not at the time of its removal being in a boiling condition

Purpose: To constitute a heat exchanger as one unit by integrating primary and secondary coolant circuits with secondary coolant circuit and steam circuit into a single primary circuit and steam circuit. Constitution: A nuclear power plant comprises a nuclear reactor vessel, primary coolant pipeways and a leakage detection system, in which a dual-pipe type heat exchanger is connected to the primary circuit pipeway. The heat conduction tube of the heat exchanger has a dual pipe structure, in which the inside of the inner tube is connected to the primary circuit pipeway, the outside of the outer tube is connected to steam circuit pipeway and a fluid channel is disposed between the inner and outer tubes and the fluid channel is connected to the inside of an expansion tank for intermediate heat medium. The leak detection system is disposed to the intermediate heat medium expansion tank. Sodium as the intermediate heat medium is introduced from the intermediate portion (between the inner and outer tubes) by way of inermediate heat medium pipeways to the intermediate heat medium expansion tank and, further, to the intermediate portion for recycling. (Kawakami, Y.)

The explanations in this article aim at clarifying the background of the problem of nuclear energies. Why did countries give up developing nuclear energy? Which roles do economic political and psychological factors play in making energy political decisions? How could a balance be found in using the various energy sources which must meet the constantly increasing demand for electric power? Which preconditions must be fulfilled to return to nuclear energy world-wide (as using coal is connected with many environmental risks) and how long would it take? If, however, nuclear power is even to be included in the energy-political discussions of the governments and the public opinions in each country, there are a number of sensitive topics waiting for an answer: Safety and costs of power plants; recycling and storing nuclear wastes; the relationship between civil energy and the availability of nuclear weapons and the future plutonium economy. (orig./UA) [de

Current activity around radiological protection of the environment implies concerns over the effectiveness of the current approach to this-namely if humans are adequately protected, then so are non-human species. This study uses models and data currently available in the public domain to carry out a 'quick and dirty' examination of whether protecting humans does indeed imply that other species are well protected. Using marine discharges and human habits data for operational coastal UK nuclear power stations, this study compares doses to humans and a set of reference non-human species. The study concludes that the availability of data and models, and consequent ease of studying potential effects on non-humans (as well as humans), vindicates recent efforts in this area, and that these imply a high level of protection, in general, for non-human biota from UK nuclear power station marine discharges. In general terms, the study finds that protection of non-human biota relies on taking ingestion and external exposure doses to humans into account; where only one of these pathways is considered, the level of protection of non-human biota through protection of humans would depend on the radionuclide(s) in question.

Radiation impact on the nuclear power plantenvironment is a very important problem which has to be solved during design and construction. Damage that could be caused by release of radioactive material into the environment should be estimated and the magnitude of nuclear and radiation risk of the power plant should be evaluated. In general the accuracy of estimation is rather poor due to statistical fluctuations of the conditions which influence radioactivity expansion in the environment, especially in the air. Different uncertainties and unresolved problems influence the inaccuracy. Since any real risk should be extremely small compared to potential risk i.e. risk induced by nuclear power plant without any safety measures, even inaccurate estimations are very useful. Method for environmental radiation risk assessment is based on relatively simple models of radiation expansion in the environment and in the air. These models are theoretically solved but they are based on relatively limited number of experimental data. Assessment of the radiation effects on the population health and mortality is an important problem. [Slovenian] Radiacijska nevarnost za okolico nuklearne elektrarne je zelo vazen problem, ki ga je treba resiti ze pri projektiranju in gradnji. Treba je oceniti skodo, ki bi jo povzrocila v okolici neka dolocena sprostitev radioaktivnosti in na osnovi tega dimenzionirati ukrepe nuklearne in radiacijske varnosti same elektrarne. Natancnost ocenjevanja je v splosnem zelo slaba. Temu so v precejsnji meri krive statisticne fluktuacije pogojev, ki vplivajo na razsirjanje radioaktivnosti v okolici, ziasti po zraku. Na nenatancnost pa vplivajo tudi razne nejasnosti in se nereseni problemi. Ken pa mora biti dejanska nevarnost izredno majhna v primerjavi s potencialne nevarnostjo oziroma z nevannostjo, ki bi jo predstavjala nuklearna elektrarna, ce bi zanemarili vse varnostne ukrepe, so tudi taksne nenatancne ocene zelo koristne. Metode ocenjevanja radiacijske

In several countries the construction of nuclear power plants has been stopped, and in some counties several plants have been decommissioned or are planned to. Therefore, the question arises: have nuclear power plants any future? According to the author, the question should be reformulated: can mankind survive without nuclear power? To examine this challenge, the global power demand and its trends are analyzed. According to the results, traditional energy sources cannot be adequate to supply power. Therefore, a reconsideration of nuclear power should be imminent. The economic, environmental attractions are discussed as opposite to the lack of social support. (R.P.)

On June 20, 1972, the Atomic Energy Commission designated 192,323 acres of land near Aiken, SC, as the nation's first National Environmental Research Park. The designated land surrounds the Department of Energy's Savannah River Plant production complex. The site, which borders the Savannah River for 17 miles, includes swampland, pine forests, abandoned town sites, a large man-made lake for cooling water impoundment, fields, streams, and watersheds. This report is a description of the geological, hydrological, meteorological, and biological characteristics of the Savannah River Plant site and is intended as a source of information for those interested in environmental research at the site. 165 references, 68 figures, 52 tables

Commercial nuclear power plants in this country can be owned by a number of separate entities, each with varying ownership proportions. Each of these owners may, in turn, have a parent/subsidiary relationship to other companies. In addition, the operator of the plant may be a different entity as well. This report provides a compilation on the owners/operators for all commercial power reactors in the United States. While the utility industry is currently experiencing changes in organizational structure which may affect nuclearplant ownership, the data in this report is current as of July 1996. The report is divided into sections representing different aspects of nuclearplant ownership.

These general reviews of the operation of the Finnish nuclear power plants concentrate on such events and discoveries related to reactor and radiation safety that the regulatory body, the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, regards as noteworthy. The report also includes a summary of the radiation safety of the personnel and the environment, as well as tabulated data on the production and load factors of the plants. No event in the report period, or in the whole year of 1986, essentially degraded plant safety nor posed a radiation hazard to the personnel or the environment. For remedying certain defects found in the adminstrative procedures concerning plant operation and maintenance, the Loviisa power plant was shut down for several days in September

These general reviews of the operation of the Finnish nuclear power plants concentrate on such events and discoveries related to reactor and radiation safety that the regulatory body, the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, regards as noteworthy. The report also includes a summary of the radiation safety of the personnel and the environment, as well as tabulated data on the production and load factors of the plants. In the report period, no event essentially degraded plant safety nor posed a radiation hazard to the perssonnel or the environment. For remedying certain defects found in the administrative procedures concerning plant operation and maintenance, the Loviisa power plant was shut down for several days

Recently there has been a lot of interest in small modular reactors. A specific type of these small modular reactors (SMR,) are marine based power plants called floating nuclear power plants (FNPP). These FNPPs are typically built by countries with extensive knowledge of nuclear energy, such as Russia, France, China and the US. These FNPPs are built in one country and then sent to countries in need of power and/or seawater desalination. Fifteen countries have expressed interest in acquiring such power stations. Some designs for such power stations are briefly summarized. Several different avenues for cooperation in FNPP technology are proposed, including IAEA nuclear security (i.e. safeguards), multilateral or bilateral agreements, and working with Russian design that incorporates nuclear safeguards for IAEA inspections in non-nuclear weapons states

Some criterions, that the used sensors have to follow, are given together with the conditions they may encountered. They may be used in irradiation or safety test devices, in experiments concerning mock-up or plant element, or even in nuclearplants themselves. The most suitable sensor type are mentioned, with their characteristics and their fiability. Two use examples of temperature probes are given, chosen to illustrate two sensor types: thermocouples in Superphenix-1 and platinum resistance probes in research reactor Orphee [fr

This small folder presents a digest of some useful information concerning the nuclear power plants worldwide and the situation of nuclear industry at the end of 1997: power production of nuclear origin, distribution of reactor types, number of installed units, evolution and prediction of reactor orders, connections to the grid and decommissioning, worldwide development of nuclear power, evolution of power production of nuclear origin, the installed power per reactor type, market shares and exports of the main nuclear engineering companies, power plants constructions and orders situation, evolution of reactors performances during the last 10 years, know-how and development of nuclear safety, the remarkable facts of 1997, the future of nuclear power and the energy policy trends. (J.S.)

The authors have created a novel software application to access, manipulate and visualize nuclear properties. A graphical chart of nuclides provides an intuitive database manager and visualization tool for the data base. Detailed properties can be retrieved by selecting a nuclide in the chart. A window appears with an interactive level scheme and a tabular listing of properties. Results from data base searches (e.g., half life or Q-value) are displayed in the chart as a set of colored nuclides. Charts can be constructed with nuclides colored on the basis of a single or a complex set of data base searches. Other features tools to create interactive systematics from any collection of nuclides; and functions to import and export properties, graphics, or other materials. The authors demonstrate MacNuclide and discuss future directions for this project

This report indicates percentage ownership of commercial nuclear power plants by utility companies. The report includes all plants operating, under construction, docketed for NRC safety and environmental reviews, or under NRC antitrust review, but does not include those plants announced but not yet under review or those plants formally cancelled. Part 1 of the report lists plants alphabetically with their associated applicants or licensees and percentage ownership. Part 2 lists applicants or licensees alphabetically with their associated plants and percentage ownership. Part 1 also indicates which plants have received operating licenses (OLS)

The present invention provides a highly safe light water-cooled type nuclear power plant capable of reducing radiation dose by suppressing deposition of activated corrosion products by a simple constitution. Namely, equipments and pipelines for fluid such as pumps at least in one of fluid systems such as a condensate cleanup system are constituted by a material containing metal species such as Zn having an effect of suppressing deposition of radioactivity. Alternatively, the surface of these equipments and pipelines for fluids on which water passes is formed by a coating layer comprising a material containing a metal having a radiation deposition suppressing effect. As a result, radioactivity deposited on the equipments and pipelines for fluids is reduced. In addition, since the method described above may be applied only at least to a portion of the members constituting at least one of the systems for fluids, it is economical. Accordingly, radiation dose upon inspection of equipments and pipelines for fluids can be reduced simply and reliably. (I.S.)

The present invention provides a highly safe light water-cooled type nuclear power plant capable of reducing radiation dose by suppressing deposition of activated corrosion products by a simple constitution. Namely, equipments and pipelines for fluid such as pumps at least in one of fluid systems such as a condensate cleanup system are constituted by a material containing metal species such as Zn having an effect of suppressing deposition of radioactivity. Alternatively, the surface of these equipments and pipelines for fluids on which water passes is formed by a coating layer comprising a material containing a metal having a radiation deposition suppressing effect. As a result, radioactivity deposited on the equipments and pipelines for fluids is reduced. In addition, since the method described above may be applied only at least to a portion of the members constituting at least one of the systems for fluids, it is economical. Accordingly, radiation dose upon inspection of equipments and pipelines for fluids can be reduced simply and reliably. (I.S.)

Purpose: To enable to prevent the degradation in the quality of condensated water in a case where sea water leakage should occur in a steam condenser of a BWR type nuclear power plant. Constitution: Increase in the ion concentration in condensated water is detected by an ion concentration detector and the leaking factor of sea water is calculated in a leaking factor calculator. If the sea water leaking factor exceeds a predetermined value, a leak generation signal is sent from a judging device to a reactor power control device to reduce the reactor power. At ehe same tiem, the leak generation signal is also sent to a steam condenser selection and isolation device to interrupt the sea water pump of a specified steam condenser based on the signal from the ion concentration detector, as well as close the inlet and outlet valves while open vent and drain valves to thereby forcively discharge the sea water in the cooling water pipes. This can keep the condensate desalting device from ion breaking and prevent the degradation in the quality of the reactor water. (Horiuchi, T.)

In an underground-type nuclear power plant, groups of containing cavities comprising a plurality of containing cavities connected in series laterally by way of partition walls are disposed in parallel underground. Controlled communication tunnels for communicating the containing cavities belonging to a control region to each other, and non-controlled communication tunnels for communicating containing cavities belonging to a non-controlled area to each other are disposed underground. A controlled corridor tunnel and a non-controlled corridor tunnel extended so as to surround the containing cavity groups are disposed underground, and the containing cavities belonging to the controlled area are connected to the controlled corridor tunnel respectively, and the containing cavities belonging to the non-controlled area are connected to the non-controlled corridor tunnel respectively. The excavating amount of earth and sand upon construction can be reduced by disposing the containing cavity groups comprising a plurality of containing cavities connected in series laterally. The time and the cost for the construction can be reduced, and various excellent effects can be provided. (N.H.)

The construction and operation of nuclearplants are subject to a complex system of governmental administration. The authors list the various governmental authorisations and rules applicable to these plants. In the first part, they describe the national regulations which relate specifically to nuclearplants, and emphasize the provisions which are intended to ensure the safety of the installations and the protection of the public against ionizing radiation. However, while the safety of nuclearplants is a major concern of the authorities, other interests are also protected. This is accomplished by various laws or regulations which apply to nuclearplants as well as other industrial installations. The duties which these texts, and the administrative practice based thereon, impose on Electricite de France are covered in the second part [fr

Basic information is presented on diagnostic systems used at nuclear power plants with PWR reactors. They include systems used at the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant in the USSR, at the Nord power plant in the GDR, the system developed at the Hungarian VEIKI institute, the system used at the V-1 nuclear power plant at Jaslovske Bohunice in Czechoslovakia and systems of the Rockwell International company used in US nuclear power plants. These diagnostic systems are basically founded on monitoring vibrations and noise, loose parts, pressure pulsations, neutron noise, coolant leaks and acoustic emissions. The Rockwell International system represents a complex unit whose advantage is the on-line evaluation of signals which gives certain instructions for the given situation directly to the operator. The other described systems process signals using similar methods. Digitized signals only serve off-line computer analyses. (Z.M.)

Described are the major environmental effects resulting from the production of electricity by nuclear power plants. Discussed are effects of waste heat, radioactivity, radioactive waste elimination, costs, and future prospects. Included are diagrams illustrating cooling tower operation, effects of thermal discharge into water systems, radioactive…

Do nuclear power plants present an unjustifiable risk Can there be confidence in their safety The Uranium Institute invited a group of senior safety experts from eight different Western countries operating different types of reactors to provide an authoritative explanation for non-specialists of the basic principles of reactor safety, their application and their implications. The report presents the group's opinion on the level of safety achieved in the Western nuclear power plants with which the authors are directly familiar. Although many of the points made may well also be true for non-Western reactors, the report does not cover them except where specifically stated. It does describe and discuss the causes of the Chernobyl disaster. It does not compare nuclear power with other fuels, nor does it deal with its benefits, since however great the benefits from the peaceful use of nuclear power, and its own advantages over other fuels, they could not compensate for lack of safety. The conclusion reached is that the risk associated with electricity production at nuclear power plants can be kept very low. Proper use of the extensive knowledge available today can guarantee operation of nuclear power plants at very high safety levels, carrying very low risks, both to health and of contamination of the environment: risks that are continually lowered by upgrading existing plants and their operation, and by the design of future power plants. (author).

Quarterly reports on the operation of Finnish nuclear power plants describe events and observations related to nuclear and radiation safety which the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety considers safety significant. Safety-enhancing plant modifications and general matters relating to the use of nuclear energy are also reported. A summary of the radiation safety of plant personnel and the environment, and tabulated data on the plants' production and their load factors are also given. At the Loviisa 1 plant unit one of two specially-backed AC busbars was lost during the second quarter of 1993. A ca. 30 minute voltage break caused malfunctions in the plant unit's electrical equipment and rendered inoperable certain components important to safety. The event is rated on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) at level 1. In inspections carried out at TVO II during the annual maintenance outage, the number of cracks detected in control rod structural material was higher than usual. When cracks occur, part of boron carbide, the power regulating medium in control rods, may wash into the reactor water and control rod shutdown capability may be impaired. The event is rated on the INES at level 1. Other events in the second quarter of 1993 had no bearing on nuclear or radiation safety. (4 figs., 5 tabs.)

Despite a generally excellent history of protecting man and his environment against the harmful effects of radioactive and thermal contamination from the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, civilian nuclear programmes in many countries are beset by a doubting and, in some cases, highly critical reaction from some sections of the public. The genesis and evolution of public controversy over nuclear power were explored in a number of papers presented at general and technical sessions during the Fourth Geneva Conference, and were the subject of a panel discussion on one afternoon. (author)

Quarterly reports on the operation of the Finnish NPPs describe nuclear and radiation safety related events and observations which the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety considers significant. Safety improvements at the plants and general matters relating to the use of nuclear energy are also reported. A summary of the radiation safety of plant personnel and the environment, and tabulated data on the plants' production and load factors are also given. One event during the last quarter of 1993 was rated on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) as level 1. During this event at Loviisa 2, the secondary circuit emergency feedwater system was erroneously isolated from automatic start-up readiness. The error went unnoticed for 4.5 hours. During 1993 one level 2 incident and three level 1 incidents occurred at the Finnish NPPs. (8 figs., 4 tabs.)

Data on the power generation, nuclear safety, and gaseous and liquid releases into the environment were extracted from the 1993 annual report of the Dukovany nuclear power plant. Operation of the plant was safe and reliable in 1993. Three events were classed as INES category 1. The plant's Failure Commission dealt with 100 events which brought about a total electricity generation loss of 217,624 MWh, corresponding to about 22 reactor-days. Out of this, 26.8 % was due to human error. Three fires occurred at the power plant site. Releases of radioactive aerosols, tritium, noble gases and radioiodine into air and of tritium, corrosion products, and fission products into the aquatic environment were below annual limits. The collective dose equivalent was 1.78 manSv in 1993. (Z.S.). 2 tabs., 11 figs

According to the Inst. fuer Unfallforschung/TUeV Rheinland, Koeln, the interpretation of empirical data gained from the operation of nuclear power plants at home and abroad during the period 1967-1975 has shown that about 38% of all reactor accidents were caused by human failures. These occured either during the design and construction, the commissioning, the reconditioning or the operation of the plants. This very fact stresses human responsibility for the safety of nuclear power plants, in spite of those plants being automated to a high degree and devices. (orig.) [de

Radiochemistry is employed in nuclear power plants not as an end in itself but, among other things, as a main prerequisite of optimum radiation protection. Radiochemical monitoring of various loops provides important information about sources of radioactivity, activity distribution in the plant and its changes. In the light of these analytical findings, plant crews are able to take measures having a positive effect on radiation levels in the plant. The example of a BWR plant is used to show, among other things, how radiochemical analyses helped to reduce radiation levels in a plant and, as a consequence, to decrease clearly radiation exposure of the personnel despite higher workloads. (orig.)

India has an ambitious programme to expand the nuclear power capacity to 60 GWe by 2032 and 655 GWe by 2050. Such an exponential growth of nuclear power generation warranty identification of suitable sites for nuclear power reactors. Perhaps the 6000 km long vast coastline is the best choice for siting new NPPs because of ready availability of sea water and a quiet seismic environment. Large inland areas with adequate water resources provide additional locations to cater the power requirements of Central and Northern India. In this perspective, the potentials of Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP) for siting new NPPs is discussed. Five zones delineated as safer sites of nuclear power plants on Deccan Trap, are the first hand targets identified by this study. Two of them are situated to the north of Narmada-Son Lineament and have large areas. Chambal and Betwa river systems of Ganga Basin are perennial source of water along with several dams constructed on their course. The other three zones are located to the south of Narmada-Son Lineament and are small in size. The Konkan Coastal Lineament (N-S) in the west and Kurduwadi Lineament (NW-SE) in the east are major tectonic features bordering these zones. The Godavari and Krishna rivers are perennial water sources. Presence of reservoirs within the delineated zones stands advantageous considering their potential as ultimate heat sinks. All the five zones are devoid of any known major seismicity. Thick basalt cover provides good foundation conditions and engineerability for these zones. Considering above characteristics, proposed five zones could be good candidate sites for future NPPs, after their detailed geotechnical investigations. (author)

Presents a nuclear power plant simulation game which is designed to involve a class of 30 junior or senior high school students. Scientific, ecological, and social issues covered in the game are also presented. (HM)

Demand for robots in nuclear power plants is increasing of late in order to reduce workers' exposure to radiations. Especially, owing to the progress of microelectronics and robotics, earnest desire is growing for the advent of intellecturized robots that perform indeterminate and complicated security work. Herein represented are the robots recently developed for nuclear power plants and the review of the present status of robotics. (author)

Demand for robots in nuclear power plants is increasing of late in order to reduce workers' exposure to radiations. Especially, owing to the progress of microelectronics and robotics, earnest desire is growing for the advent of intellecturized robots that perform indeterminate and complicated security work. Herein represented are the robots recently developed for nuclear power plants and the review of the present status of robotics.

A survey of the main questions of decommissioning of nuclear power plants will be given in the sight of German utilities (VDEW-Working group 'Stillegung'). The main topics are: 1) Definitions of decommissioning, entombment, removal and combinations of such alternatives; 2) Radioactive inventory (build up and decay); 3) Experience up to now; 4) Possibilities to dismantle are given by possibility to repair nuclear power plants; 5) Estimated costs, waste, occupational radiation dose; 6) German concept of decommissioning. (orig./HK) [de

The purpose of this book is to present information and answers to questions about nuclear power and the environment, e.g., questions on its effects on public health, safety, and welfare. Information on the overall U.S. energy outlook, with emphasis on nuclear power generation, is provided. Although proponents of nuclear power, the authors have attempted to present factual information and to maintain objectivity. Included are answers to questions on these aspects of nuclear power: the energy situation and nuclear power; economics and reliability; alternative technologies; radioactivity; biological effects of radiation; transportation in the nuclear fuel cycle; fuel reprocessing and nuclear waste disposal; plutonium toxicity; nuclearplant security; thermal pollution; nuclear power plant siting--earthquakes; nuclear reactor safety; public risk and benefits; nuclear liability and insurance; breeder reactors; and thermonuclear fusion. (232 references)

After the reactor accident at Three Mile Island, the Swedish nuclear power plants were equipped with filtered venting of the containment. Several types of accidents can be identified where the filtered venting has no effect on the radioactive release. The probability for such accidents is hopefully very small. It is not possible however to estimate the probability accurately. Experiences gained in the last years, which have been documented in official reports from the Nuclear Power Inspectorate indicate that the probability for core melt accidents in Swedish reactors can be significantly larger than estimated earlier. A probability up to one in a thousand operating years can not be excluded. There are so far no indications that aging of the plants has contributed to an increased accident risk. Maintaining the safety level with aging nuclear power plants can however be expected to be increasingly difficult. It is concluded that the 12 Swedish plants remain a major threat for severe radioactive pollution of the Swedish environment despite measures taken since 1980 to improve their safety. Closing of the nuclear power plants is the only possibility to eliminate this threat. It is recommended that until this is done, quantitative safety goals, same for all Swedish plants, shall be defined and strictly enforced. It is also recommended that utilities distributing misleading information about nuclear power risks shall have their operating license withdrawn. 37 refs.

After the reactor accident at Three Mile Island, the Swedish nuclear power plants were equipped with filtered venting of the containment. Several types of accidents can be identified where the filtered venting has no effect on the radioactive release. The probability for such accidents is hopefully very small. It is not possible however to estimate the probability accurately. Experiences gained in the last years, which have been documented in official reports from the Nuclear Power Inspectorate indicate that the probability for core melt accidents in Swedish reactors can be significantly larger than estimated earlier. A probability up to one in a thousand operating years can not be excluded. There are so far no indications that aging of the plants has contributed to an increased accident risk. Maintaining the safety level with aging nuclear power plants can however be expected to be increasingly difficult. It is concluded that the 12 Swedish plants remain a major threat for severe radioactive pollution of the Swedish environment despite measures taken since 1980 to improve their safety. Closing of the nuclear power plants is the only possibility to eliminate this threat. It is recommended that until this is done, quantitative safety goals, same for all Swedish plants, shall be defined and strictly enforced. It is also recommended that utilities distributing misleading information about nuclear power risks shall have their operating license withdrawn. 37 refs

With the preliminary culmination in the convoy plants of the high standard of engineered safeguards in German nuclear power plants developed over the past twenty years, the interest of operators has now increasingly turned to problems which had not been in the focus of attention before. One of these problems is the organization of nuclear power plant operation. In order to enlarge the basis of knowledge, which is documented also in the rules published by the Kerntechnischer Ausschuss (Nuclear Technology Committee), the German Federal Minister of the Interior has commissioned a study of the organizational structures of nuclear power plants. The findings of that study are covered in the article. Two representative nuclear power plants in the Federal Republic of Germany were selected for the study, one of them a single-unit plant run by an independent operating company in the form of a private company under German law (GmbH), the other a dual-unit plant operated as a dependent unit of a utility. The two enterprises have different structures of organization. (orig.) [de

The concepts are described of the fuel cycle and gaseous, liquid and solid radioactive wastes. Sources are discussed of exposure of Czechoslovak population, such as cosmic radiation, natural radionuclide radiation in the soil, water and air, /sup 40/K contained in the human body, medical diagnosis and therapy, radionuclide applications in industries and agriculture, nuclear power plants. The methods are described of high-level radioactive wastes processing, disposal and transport.

Sulzer, the Swiss technology group, is a supplier of components and systems for nuclear power plants. Important parts of Swiss nuclear power stations, such as containments, reactor pressure vessels, primary pipings, are made in Winterthur. Sulzer Thermtec AG and some divisions of Sulzer Innotec focus their activities on servicing and backfitting nuclear power plants. The European market enjoys priority. New types of valves or systems are developed as economic solutions meeting more stringent criteria imposed by public authorities or arising from operating conditions. (orig.) [de

This paper aimed at the characterization of metallic composition and surface analysis on the crud of fuel rods for unit-1 of BWR-4 at Nuclear Power Plant. The inductively coupled plasma- atomic emission spectroscopy (ICPAES) and the gamma spectrometry were carried out to analyze the corrosion product distributions and to determine the elemental compositions along the fuel rod under conditions of hydrogen water chemistry (HWC) switched from normal water chemistry (NWC) of reactor coolant in this study. Most of the crud consisted of the flakes and irregular shapes via SEM morphology. The loosely adherent oxide layer was mostly composed of hematite (α- Fe 2 O 3 ) with amorphous iron oxides by XRD results. The average deposited amounts of crud was the order of 0.5 mg/cm 2 , indicating that the fuel surface of this plant under HWC environment appeared to be one with the lower crud deposition in terms of low iron level of feedwater. It also showed no significant difference in comparison with NWC condition. (authors)

The guide sets forth requirements for safety of the population and the environment in nuclear power plant siting. It also sets out the general basis for procedures employed by other competent authorities when they issue regulations or grant licences. On request STUK (Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland) issues case-specific statements about matters relating to planning and about other matters relating to land use in the environment of nuclear power plants

This paper presents the local populations considerations related to the establishment of a nuclear power plant comprising 4 units of 900 MW: reception of a population in the existing environment, acceptance of the power plant by the local population, effluent releases and environmental impacts, and the power plant future [fr

A first nuclearplant and a second nuclear power plant are disposed in adjacent with each other in a building for a nuclear reactor. A reactor container is disposed in each of the plants, and each reactor container is surrounded by a second containing facility. A repairing chamber capable of communicating with the secondary containing facilities for both of the secondary containing facilities is disposed being in contact with the second containing facility of each plant for repairing control rod driving mechanisms or reactor incorporated-type recycling pumps. Namely, the repairing chamber is in adjacent with the reactor containers of both plants, and situated between both of the plants as a repairing chamber to be used in common for both plants. Air tight inlet/exit doors are formed to the inlets/exits of both plants of the repairing chamber. Space for the repairing chamber can be reduced to about one half compared with a case where the repairing chamber is formed independently on each plant. (I.N.)

This paper reviews TVA's nuclear power plant design and construction experience in terms of schedule and capital costs. The completed plant in commercial operation at Browns Ferry and six additional plants currently under construction represent the nation's largest single commitment to nuclear power and an ultimate investment of $12 billion by 1986. The presentation is made in three separate phases. Phase one will recapitulate the status of the nuclear power industry in 1966 and set forth the assumptions used for estimating capital costs and projecting project schedules for the first TVA units. Phase two describes what happened to the program in the hectic early 1979's in terms of expansion of scope (particularly for safety features), the dramatic increase in regulatory requirements, vendor problems, stretchout of project schedules, and unprecedented inflation. Phase three addresses the assumptions used today in estimating schedules and plant costs for the next ten-year period

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulates nuclear power plants to assure adequate protection of the public and the environment from the dangers associated with nuclear materials. NRC fulfills this responsibility through comprehensive safety reviews of nuclear facilities, licensing of organizations that use nuclear materials, and continuing inspection. The NRC inspection program is currently conducted from the five regional offices in or near Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco. Inspectors travel from the regional offices to nuclear power plants in various phases of construction, test and operation in order to conduct inspections. However, in June 1977 the Commission approved a revision to the inspection program that will include stationing inspectors at selected plants under construction and at all plants in operation. In addition, the revised program provides for appraising the performance of licensees on a national basis and involves more direct measurement and observation by NRC inspectors of work and tests in progress. The program also includes enhanced career management consisting of improved training and career development for inspectors and other professionals. The report was requested in the Conference Report on the NRC Authorization for Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1978. The report provides a discussion of the basis for both the current and revised inspection programs, describes these programs, and shows how the NRC inspection force will be trained and utilized. In addition, the report includes a discussion of the actions that will be taken to assure the objectivity of inspectors

The NuclearPlant Analyzer (NPA), a state-of-the-art computerized safety analysis and engineering tool, was employed to simulate nuclearplant response to an abnormal transient during a training exercise at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) in Washington, DC. Information relative to plant status was taken from a computer animated color graphics display depicting the course of the transient and was transmitted to the NRC Operations Center in a manner identical to that employed during an actual event. Recommendations from the Operations Center were implemented during on-line, interactive execution of the RELAP5 reactor systems code through the NPA allowing a degree of flexibility in training exercises not realized previously. When the debriefing was conducted, the RELAP5 calculations were replayed by way of the color graphics display, adding a new dimension to the debriefing and greatly enhancing the critique of the exercise

The article presents the main steps of nuclear power plants siting, including the requirements from a nuclear power station onto the site, and the analysis of potential effects of a nuclear power station to the environment. Attentions are called upon the analysis of important factors such as electric transmission losses, cooling water supply, site accessibility, local infrastructure, risks due to man made and natural sources of aggression to the nuclear power plants, population, distribution, hydrological and atmospheric dispersion conditions

In Korea, there are total of 18 Nuclear Power Plants in operation as of the end of 2002 and 6 more plants are under construction. The first project for the Advanced Power Reactor (APR) 1400 nuclear power plant is being launched to provide reliable electricity economical competitiveness in Korea. The competitive business environment both globally and in Korea, where the power industry is undergoing significant restructuring, is requiring the Korean nuclear industry to continually improve the economic associated with nuclear power. Introduction of the APR 1400 design and continued improvement of local capabilities are two of the ways that the industry is responding to the challenge. (author)

The Electric Power Research Institute has started research in human factors in nuclear power plants. One project, completed in March 1977, reviewed human factors problems in operating power plants and produced a report evaluating those problems. A second project developed computer programs for evaluating operator performance on training simulators. A third project is developing and evaluating control-room design approaches. A fourth project is reviewing human factors problems associated with power-plant maintainability and instrumentation and control technician activities. Human factors engineering is an interdisciplinary specialty concerned with influencing the design of equipment systems, facilities, and operational environments to promote safe, efficient, and reliable operator performance. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has undertaken four projects studying the application of human factors engineering principles to nuclear power plants. (author)

This issue of the Bulletin contains a series of articles discussing various aspects of the interplay between the use of nuclear energy for electricity production, and the acknowledged need to protect the human environment, to conserve natural resources for the benefit of mankind. This article, the keynote to the series, has been contributed by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, immediate past Chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission and now of the University of California, Berkeley, California. (author)

The thesis of this paper is that the world will need more energy and not less in the coming decades but that this enormous energy consumption entails dangers to the environment not only locally but regionally and internationally through the emissions from the burning of fossil fuels which now provide 85% of the world's commercial energy supply. The solution to this problem is nuclear power. It does not contribute to global warming. 12 figs

Implementation of the ALARA principle at nuclear power plants presents a continuing challenge for health physicists at utility corporate and plant levels, for plant designers, and for regulatory agencies. The relatively large collective doses at some plants are being addressed through a variety of dose reduction techniques. Initiatives by the ICRP, NCRP, NRC, INPO, EPRI, and BNL ALARA Center have all contributed to a heightened interest and emphasis on dose reduction. The NCRP has formed Scientific Committee 46-9 which is developing a report on ALARA at Nuclear Power Plants. It is planned that this report will include material on historical aspects, management, valuation of dose reduction ($/person-Sv), quantitative and qualitative aspects of optimization, design, operational considerations, and training. The status of this work is summarized in this report

From 1977 to 2009, more than 600 measurements of organic tritium were performed on fish, aquatic plants and sediments upstream and downstream of the 15 French NPP located along rivers. Examination of the results shows that organic tritium activities have exponentially decreased over the last thirty years, in all components of aquatic ecosystems. Upstream of all NPP, OBT levels in sediments are higher than in plants and fish, themselves larger than HTO in surface water. The magnitude of these differences and the long-term trends depend on the river basin and can be explained by the varying nature of tritium sources. In river catchment, where atmospheric test fallout is the main source of tritium, the observed levels result from the exposure of aquatic organisms to two distinct tritium pools of different ages: atmospheric tritiated water (representing present fallout), and organic tritium from soils (formed over several decades) which supplies particulate matter to surface waters. In the Rhone and Rhine river basins, an additional source of organic tritium of very low bio-availability, probably originating from the luminescent paint industry, is responsible for the spiking of sediment organic matter up to 100 to 100 000 Bq.L -1 combustion water. The comparison of upstream and downstream NPP tritium levels shows that the influence of tritium discharges is detectable only in rivers, with low background OBT activities, i.e in basins other than the Rhone and Rhine. The observed increase in plant and fish OBT is lower than the added HTO activity in water due to discharge, which supports the absence of bioaccumulation for tritium originating from HTO and the absence of highly bio-available tritiated organic molecules in NPP discharges. (authors)

This report provides the background information for statistics and analysis developed by NUKEM in its monthly Market Report on the Nuclear Fuel Cycle. The assessments in this Special Report are based on the continuous review of individual nuclear power plant projects. This Special Report begins with tables summarizing a variety of nuclear power generating capacity statistics for 1990. It continues with a brief review of the year's major events regarding each country's nuclear power program. The standard NUKEM Market Report tables on nuclearplant capacity are given on pages 24 and 25. Owing to space limitations, the first year shown is 1988. Please refer to previous Special Reports for data covering earlier years. Detailed tables for each country list all existing plants as well as those expected by NUKEM to be in commercial operation by the end of 2005. An Appendix containing a list of abbreviations can be found starting on page 56. Only nuclear power plants intended for civilian use are included in this Special Report. Reactor lifetimes are assumed to be 35 years for all light water reactors and 30 years for all other reactor types, unless other data or definite decommissioning dates have been published by the operators. (orig./UA) [de

Thermal pollution due to dumping of waste heat in the environment is the direct effect of the fossil-fuel power plants as well as of the nuclear power plants. The indirect effect is the industrial pollution caused by the growth of industries in the surrounding areas. Fossil-fuel power plants cause environmental pollution due to emission of smoke, oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, and carbon dioxide which cause greenhouse effect. Radioactivity generated in nuclear power plants is strictly contained, however in case of accidents it gets released to the environment. (R.G.). 3 refs., 1 appendix

The following list indicates percentage ownership of commercial nuclear power plants by utility companies as of December 1, 1979. The list includes all plants licensed to operate, under construction, docketed for NRC safety and envionmental reviews, or under NRC antitrust review. It does not include those plants announced but not yet under review or those plants formally cancelled. In many cases, ownership may be in the process of changing as a result of antitrust license conditions and hearings, altered financial conditions, changed power needs, and other reasons. However, this list reflects only those ownership percentages of which the NRC has been formally notified

The paper included following contents: China needs to develop nuclear energy; China pays attention to the radiation environment management; the role of China National Environmental Protection Agency in nuclear energy and the environment

Illumination in the working environment is one of the crucial factors that affect worker's psychological status as well as the physiological condition according to each task. Sometimes it affects the results of worker's cognitive, perceptual work performance. In particular, illumination may become a triggering factor to human errors in visual tasks due to visual fatigue through direct influence of vision in NPPs. Illumination includes several visual conditions such as uniformity factor, light distribution, glare, SPD (Surge Protector Device), flicker, illumination system, daylight and window control, in addition to the simple physical aspects of illumination and luminance. These conditions may affect operators' visibility and disillusion level, cause stress, attention, emotion, etc. and they finally affect workers' performance and errors as a result. From the many illumination conditions mentioned above, current work environment evaluation items on illumination are mainly based only on the intensity of illumination, and there is yet no systematic way with evaluation criteria for other factors such as luminance, flickering, etc. In addition, research and development on illumination emphasizes mainly the physical characteristics of illumination, and it is insufficient for the influence studies on human error or work performance that are caused by these factors

Illumination in the working environment is one of the crucial factors that affect worker's psychological status as well as the physiological condition according to each task. Sometimes it affects the results of worker's cognitive, perceptual work performance. In particular, illumination may become a triggering factor to human errors in visual tasks due to visual fatigue through direct influence of vision in NPPs. Illumination includes several visual conditions such as uniformity factor, light distribution, glare, SPD (Surge Protector Device), flicker, illumination system, daylight and window control, in addition to the simple physical aspects of illumination and luminance. These conditions may affect operators' visibility and disillusion level, cause stress, attention, emotion, etc. and they finally affect workers' performance and errors as a result. From the many illumination conditions mentioned above, current work environment evaluation items on illumination are mainly based only on the intensity of illumination, and there is yet no systematic way with evaluation criteria for other factors such as luminance, flickering, etc. In addition, research and development on illumination emphasizes mainly the physical characteristics of illumination, and it is insufficient for the influence studies on human error or work performance that are caused by these factors

Competitive environment for electricity generation has significant implications for nuclear power plant operations, including among others the need of efficient use of resources, effective management of plant activities such as on-line maintenance and outages. Nuclear power plant outage management is a key factor for good, safe and economic nuclear power plant performance which involves many aspects: plant policy, co-ordination of available resources, nuclear safety, regulatory and technical requirements and, all activities and work hazards, before and during the outage. This technical publication aims to communicate these practices in a way they can be used by operators and utilities in the Member States of the IAEA. It intends to give guidance to outage managers, operating staff and to the local industry on planning aspects, as well as examples and strategies experienced from current plants in operation on the optimization of outage period. This report discusses the plant outage strategy and how this strategy is actually implemented. The main areas identified as most important for outage optimization by the utilities and government organizations participating in this report are: organization and management; outage planning and preparation, outage execution, safety outage review, and counter measures to avoid extension of outages and to easier the work in forced outages. This report was based on discussions and findings by the authors of the annexes and the participants of an Advisory Group Meeting on Determinant Causes for Reducing Outage Duration held in June 1999 in Vienna. The report presents the consensus of these experts regarding best common or individual good practices that can be used at nuclear power plants with the aim to optimize

In the period under review, the Latina power plant produced 1009,07 million kWh with a utilization factor of 72% and an availability factor of 80,51%. The disparity between the utilization and availability factors was mainly due to the shutdown of the plant owing to trade union strife. The reasons for non-availability (19,49%) were almost all related to the functioning of the conventional part and the general servicing of the plant (18 September-28 October). During the shutdown for maintenance, an inspection of the steel members and parts of the core stabilizing structure was made in order to check for the familiar oxidation phenomena caused by CO 2 ; the results of the inspection were all satisfactory. Operation of the plant during 1974 was marked by numerous power cutbacks as a result of outages of the steam-raising units (leaks from the manifolds) and main turbines (inspection and repairs to the LP rotors). Since it was first brought into commercial operation, the plant has produced 13,4 thousand million kWh

This paper is about maintenance of nuclear power plants. In part one, the outage management of nuclear power plants has described. Meaning of the outage and objectives of outage management is given in introduction. The necessity of a long-term outage strategy is shown in chapter one. The main parts of an outage are as follows: Planning; Preparation; Execution, Each of them and also post-outage review have been explained in the followed chapters. Part two deals with technical details of main primary components of nuclear power plant type WWER. After an introduction about WWER reactors, in each chapter first the general and detailed description of main primary components has given and then their maintenance schedules and procedures. Chapter about reactor and steam generator is related to both types of WWER-440 and WWER-1000, but chapter about reactor coolant pump has specified to WWER-1000 to be more in details.(author)

The paper describes the results of investigations of the chemistry of precipitation water and soil water in 1991-1992 on research plots in the nearer and farther environs of the building site of the Temelin nuclear power plant (about 25 km north of Ceske Budejovice). Research plots lie in spruce and beech stands. When the installations on research plots were built (1990 and 1991), soil samples were taken to determine the supply of biogenic elements in humus and soil. The objective of the program was to determine the current level of element deposition in forest ecosystems, dynamics of soil elements and chemistry; the program is a part of more extensive research into forest environment and stand condition. The research of investigation provide data for a forecast of the effect of the projected operation of the nuclear power plant on forest environment, basic factor of growth and stabilization and for fulfilment of their functions. They can be a basis for evaluation of the rate of changes in forest ecosystems after the nuclear power plant has been launched into operation. The results of research are currently applied to supply data to the network of plots with monitoring of pollutant loads in the forest ecosystem in Southern Bohemia. Two research plots in spruce stand (Hnevkovice and Strouha) and a plot in beech stand (Vsetec) were laid out at a distance of several kilometers from the built-up premises of the Temelin nuclear power plant. The soils on these plots are medium deep brown forest soils (Cambisol) with a large amount of mother rock skeleton (biotitic paragneiss). Moder is a soil humus form in the spruce and beech stands. To monitor pollutant deposition in the forest ecosystems and their effect of the soil properties Vojirov plots were laid out which lie in spruce stand and in a mixed stand of beech and spruce in the Jindrichuv Hradec forest district, near the frontier with Austria. Humus podzols with moder and mor forms were developed on eolian sand between

A nuclear power plant (NPP) involves complex engineering structures that are significant items of the structures, systems and components (SSC) important to the safe and reliable operation of the NPP. Concrete is the commonly used civil engineering construction material in the nuclear industry because of a number of advantageous properties. The NPP concrete structures underwent a great degree of evolution, since the commissioning of first NPP in early 1960. The increasing concern with time related to safety of the public and environment, and degradation of concrete structures due to ageing related phenomena are the driving forces for such evolution. The concrete technology underwent rapid development with the advent of chemical admixtures of plasticizer/super plasticizer category as well as viscosity modifiers and mineral admixtures like fly ash and silica fume. Application of high performance concrete (HPC) developed with chemical and mineral admixtures has been witnessed in the construction of NPP structures. Along with the beneficial effect, the use of admixtures in concrete has posed a number of challenges as well in design and construction. This along with the prospect of continuing operation beyond design life, especially after 60 years, the impact of extreme natural events ( as in the case of Fukushima NPP accident) and human induced events (e.g. commercial aircraft crash like the event of September 11th 2001) has led to further development in the area of NPP concrete structures. The present paper aims at providing an account of evolution of NPP concrete structures in last two decades by summarizing the development in the areas of concrete technology, design methodology and construction techniques, maintenance and ageing management of concrete structures.

Requirements for electrical and propulsion power for space are expected to increase dramatically in the 1980s. Nuclear power is probably the only source for some deep space missions and a major competitor for many orbital missions, especially those at geosynchronous orbit. Because of the potential requirements, a technology program on space nuclear power plant components has been initiated by the Department of Energy. The missions that are foreseen, the current power plant concept, the technology program plan, and early key results are described

This paper reports that pumps play an important role in nuclearplant operation. For instance, reactor coolant pumps (RCPs) should provide adequate cooling for reactor core in both normal operation and transient or accident conditions. Pumps such as Low Pressure Safety Injection (LPSI) pump in the Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) play a crucial role during an accident, and their reliability is of paramount importance. Some key issues involved with pumps in nuclearplant system include the performance of RCP under two-phase flow conditions, piping vibration due to pump operating in two-phase flows, and reliability of LPSI pumps

A performance evaluation of fiber optics under radiation conditions similar to those encountered in nuclear power plants is reported. The evaluation was accomplished by the creation of an analytical model for atomic scale radiation damage in silica glass and by the execution of an extensive fiber performance measurement program. The analytic model calculates displacement and electronic damage rates for silica glass subjected to a specified nuclear reactor radiation environment. It accomplishes this by first generating the primary charged particle spectrum produced in silica irradiated in a nuclear reactor. The resultant spectra are then applied to the integral equations describing radiation damage in polyatomic solids. The experimental measurements were selected to span the range of fiber types, radiation environments, temperatures, and light powers expected to be used in nuclear power plants. The basic experimental protocol was to expose the optical fibers to either a nuclear reactor or a ^{60}Co radiation environment while simultaneously monitoring fiber light transmission. Experimental temperatures were either ~23 ^circC or ~100 ^circC and light powers were either -30 dBm or -60 dBm. Measurements were made at each of the three standard communications wavelengths (850 nm, 1300 nm, and 1550 nm). Several conclusions are made based on these performance measurements. First, even near the core of a nuclear reactor the vast majority of the dose to silica glass is due to gamma rays. Even with the much lower doses (factor of roughly 40) neutrons cause much more displacement damage than gamma rays (35 times the oxygen displacement rate and 500 times the silicon displacement rate). Even with neutrons having many times the displacement rate as compared with gamma rays, little if any difference is observed in the transmission losses for gamma only as compared to mixed neutron/gamma transmission losses. Therefore, atomic displacement is not a significant damage mechanism for

The reactor pressure vessel consists of two parts. A cylindrical lower part with a hemispherical steel roof is placed at some distance within an equally shaped pressure vessel of concrete. Both vessels are standing on a common bottom plate. The interspace is kept at subpressure. It serves to contain ring galleries, elevator shafts, and power plant components. (GL) [de

For more than twenty years, EDFs Communication Division has conducted a policy of opening its generation sites to the general public. Around 300,000 people visit a nuclear power plant every year. However, for the security of persons and the safety of facilities, those parts of the plant situated in controlled areas are not accessible to visitors. For the sake of transparency, EDF has taken an interest in the technologies offered by virtual reality to show the general public what a nuclear power plant is really like, so as to initiate dialogue on nuclear energy, particularly with young people. Visit has been developed with virtual reality technologies. It serves to show the invisible (voyage to the core of fission), the inaccessible and to immerse the visitors in environments which are usually closed to the general public (discovery of the controlled area of a nuclear power plant). Visit is used in Public Information Centres which receive visitors to EDF power plants and during international exhibitions and conferences. Visit allows a virtual tour of the following controlled areas: locker room hot area/cold area, a necessary passage before entering the controlled areas; reactor building; fuel building; waste auxiliary building (liquid, solid and gaseous effluents). It also includes a tour of the rooms or equipment usually accessible to the general public: control room, turbine hall, transformer, air cooling tower

Under Section 25524.3 of the Public Resources Code, the California Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (CERCDC) was directed to study ''the necessity for '' and the effectiveness and economic feasibility of undergrounding and berm containment of nuclear reactors. The author discusses the basis for the study, the Sargent and Lundy (S and L) involvement in the study, and the final conclusions reached by S and L

In the past 20 years, numerous new nuclearplant designs have been introduced in the hope of generating a mixture of features and benefits that generated enough enthusiasm amongst the utility industry decision makers to move forward with a new nuclear generation. Not only has there not been enough enthusiasm, there has been little interest in building new plants with advanced features, especially in the U.S. Compounding this predicament are the changing paradigms to which a new plant would be measured. The near hiatus on new plant orders is the clear cause of the significant consolidation in the nuclear industry. Regardless whether the disappearance of old-line nuclear companies is over or not, some paradigms for new generation designs are unmovable, while others are still under discussion as to their role in future plant designs. This paper will address those design goals that Westinghouse deems already having earned the rank of exemplar, and those still open to debate. Because it is my hope that this paper will lead to a fruitful discussion period, I will provide a list of what I feel are the champion design requirements, and those I consider the contenders. (author)

A continuing need exists for automatic or remote-controlled machines or robots which can perform inspection and maintenance tasks in nuclear power plants. Toshiba has developed several types of monofunctional and multi- functional robots for such purposes over the past 20 years, some of which have already been used in actual plants. This paper describes new multifunctional robots for inspection and maintenance. An inspection robot has been applied in an actual plant for two years for performance testing. Maintenance robots for grinding tasks have also been developed, which can be easily teleoperated by the operator using automatic control. These new robots are expected to be applied to actual inspection and maintenance work in nuclear power plants. (author)

Purpose: To provide a ballast tank, and nuclear power facilities within the containment shell of a pressure resistance structure and a maintenance operator's entrance and a transmission cable cut-off device at the outer part of the containment shell, whereby after the construction, the shell is towed, and installed by self-submerging, and it can be refloated for repairs by its own strength. Constitution: Within a containment shell having a ballast tank and a pressure resisting structure, there are provided nuclear power facilities including a nuclear power generating chamber, a maintenance operator's living room and the like. Furthermore, a maintenance operator's entrance and exit device and a transmission cable cut-off device are provided within the shell, whereby when it is towed to a predetermined a area after the construction, it submerges by its own strength and when any repair inspection is necessary, it can float up by its own strength, and can be towed to a repair dock or the like. (Yoshihara, H.)

The nuclear power plant is a huge structure, and in terms of both size and function may result in an unacceptable visual conflict in both local and wider environment. Also, it has major implications in terms of physical, social, economic, environmental and impact on people. The environmental impacts include the visual and landscape aspects of these plants. This paper outlines the main general ideas of the architecture aspects of nuclear power plants, nuclear reactors. Also, it discusses the site selection considerations: Finally, it introduces an approach for the evaluation of visual and landscape impacts of nuclear power plants

The programme of 'Systematic testing of water quality' performed by Hydrometeorologic Institute of Serbia - Belgrade includes the measurement of total beta radioactivity on 33 sampling points. The measurement of total beta radioactivity is performed with instrument 'Lola - 4' produced by 'Institute for Nuclear Science - Vinca'. During the accident of Nuclear Power Plant 'Chernobyl' in 1986 arose the need to investigate the influence of this case on the environment of Belgrade and Serbia. In that respect a series of measurement of total beta radioactivity of rain water, surface waters, tap water and air were performed. Those measurements showed an increase of radioactivity of river waters. River Sava had radioactivity of 3,4 Bq/l (0,08 Bq/l in 1 9850 and river Danube 3-5 Bq/l (0,09 Bq/l in 1 985). High values of radioactivity were measured in the waters of highland accumulation lakes over 30 Bq/l. Rain water showed it's maximum of 52 Bq/l on 1 st and 2nd May l986 and it drooped to 0,3 Bq/l until 5th of June. Tap water showed it's maximum of 35,2 Bq/l on 12th May and it was reduced to 1 ,0 Bq/l on 2nd of June. Radioactivity of air showed it's maximum of 2,64 Bq/m 3 in the period 1 -3 May and in the period 5-8 May, 1 . - 1 ,57 Bq/m 3 . Measurement of river water radioactivity on 33 regular sampling points at the end of the year 1 986 showed that was no increase in comparison with the same measurements in 1 985. All mentioned results of the radioactivity of river waters and the waters of highland accumulations used to fall into ranges predicted by the model of the radioactive pollution distribution developed on the Imperial College -London. (author)

The authors compare the performance of different reactor systems to identify the determinants of plant performance, to examine the evidence of technological maturation, and to discover the principal causes of outage or unavailability. In the light of the findings, they discuss the implications for the UK regarding reactor choice and technology development. They make no judgements about the relative merits of nuclear and fossil-fuel plants, or about safety. (author)

The IAEA classification of decommissioning stages is outlined. The international development hitherto observed in decommissioning of nuclear reactors and nuclear power stations is presented. The dismantling, cutting and decontamination methods used in the decommissioning process are mentioned. The radioactive wastes from decommissioning are characterized, the state of the art of their treatment and disposal is given. The radiation burdens and the decommissioning cost in a decommissioning process are estimated. Finally, some evaluation of the trends in the decommissioning process of nuclear power plants is given. 54 refs. (author)

Recent versions of the air quality models which are reviewed and approved from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are analysed in favour of their application in simple and complex terrain, different meteorological conditions and modifications in the sources of pollutant emissions. Improvement of the standard methods for analysis of the risks affecting the environment from different energy sources has been carried out. The application of the newly introduced model enabled (lead to performing) risk analysis of the coal power plants compared to other types of energy sources. Detailed investigation of the risk assessment and perception from coal power plants, has been performed and applied to the Macedonian coal power plants. Introducing the concept of 'psychological pollution', a modification of the standard models and programs for risk assessment from various energy sources has been suggested (proposed). The model has been applied to REK Bitola, where statistically relevant differences in relation to the control groups have been obtained. (Original)

Given in this paper are the method and the results of calculation of the average value of the equivalent of the dose of the natural background of radiation, affecting the gonads and the bone marrow of the inhabitants of one of the regions of Poland, chosen as an example. These values weighed on a number of more important environmental factors, amounts to 78.0 mrem/years for gonads and 72.1 mrem/year for bone marrow. The value of the total population dose for the investigated region, from these sources of radiation, does not exceed 1.2 x 10 4 man-rem/year. Calculations were performed mainly on the base of the results of measurements of the exposure dose rate by a scintillation monitor from aboard an airplane, using also the numerous measurements of the dose at the height of 1 m over the earth's surface, done by means of a high-pressure ionization chamber, and the results of gamma spectrometric analysis of samples of soil. In calculations, coefficients of transformation of the exposure dose into the dose absorbed by various tissues, and the time spent indoors, were taken into consideration. For this purpose, using a proper coefficient of building screen has been suggested. This method can be used for estimating the average population dose, from the external radiation originating from natural and artificial radioactive sources, present in the environment of nuclear power plants. (author)

The peripheral blood lymphocyte chromosomes of the Filipino, the carabao, the goat, and the ricefield rat, four mammalian species found abundant in the environs of the Philippine Nuclear Power Plant (PNPP-I) in Morong, Bataan, were studied to establish their radiosensitivities and to explore their possible use as biological indicator of radiation effects. The four mammalian species were found to be radiosensitive. Chromosome aberration was induced by gamma-irradiation of whole venous blood. By cytogenetic technique the aberrant chromosomes were evaluated. The aberrant chromosomes may be categorized into chromatid and chromosome types. Of the types seen, it was concluded that dicentrics are the most reliable indicator of radiation effects. In the course of this study a suitable medium was formualted and was found competitive with a commercially prepared medium. The radiosensitivity of the four species based on the frequency of dicentrics differs from each other. A calibration curve was constructed to relate exposure to the observed incidence of dicentrics. This curve is very important in the calculation of the dose corresponding to the observed dicentric yield in case of accidental release of radioactivity in the PNPP-I site. (author)

Large-scale accidents pose the highest risk in the use of nuclear power. They are the major factor that has to be taken into account when assessing the effect of nuclear power plants on human health and on the environment. In Czechoslovak conditions, the effectiveness of provisions made to reduce the hazard of large-scale nuclear power plant accidents must be considered from the following aspects: effect on human health, consequences of long-term disabling of the infrastructure, potential of human and material reserves in coping with the accident, consequences of power failure for the electricity system, effect on agricultural production and catering, risk of ground and surface water contamination in the Labe or Danube river basin, and international political aspects. (Z.M.). 3 tabs., 18 refs

Interest in using nuclear energy for producing potable water has been growing worldwide in the past decade. This has been motivated by a variety of factors, including economic competitiveness of nuclear energy, the growing need for worldwide energy supply diversification, the need to conserve limited supplies of fossil fuels, protecting the environment from greenhouse gas emissions, and potentially advantageous spin-off effects of nuclear technology for industrial development. Various studies, and at least one demonstration project, have been considered by Member States with the aim of assessing the feasibility of using nuclear energy for desalination applications under specific conditions. In order to facilitate information exchange on the subject area, the IAEA has been active for a number of years in compiling related technical publications. In 1999, an inter regional technical co-operation project on Integrated Nuclear Power and desalination System Design was launched to facilitate international collaboration for the joint development by technology holders and potential end users of an integrated nuclear desalination system. This publication presents material on the current status of nuclear desalination activities and preliminary design concepts of nuclear desalination plants, as made available to the IAEA by various Member States. It is aimed at planners, designers and potential end-users in those Member States interested in further assessment of nuclear desalination. Interested readers are also referred to two related and recent IAEA publications, which contain useful information in this area: Introduction of Nuclear Desalination: A Guidebook, Technical Report Series No. 400 (2000) and Safety Aspects of NuclearPlants Coupled with Seawater Desalination Units, IAEA-TECDOC-1235 (2001)

The Federation of German Industries (BDI) commissioned a study of the ''Economic Effects of Alternative Lifetimes of Nuclear Power Plants in Germany.'' The expert organizations invited as authors were the Power Economy Institute of the University of Cologne (EWI) and Energy Environment Forecast Analysis GmbH (EEFA), Berlin. The reasons for commissioning the Study include the changed framework conditions (deregulation, CO 2 emission certificate trading, worldwide competition for resources), which have altered the energy supply situation in Europe. The findings of the Study were presented to the public by the BDI on October 26, 2005. The study deals with two scenarios of extended lifetimes for German nuclear power plants of 40 and 60 years as against the existing regulations with plant lifetimes limited to approx. 32 years. The longer service lives of plants are reflected in reduced electricity generation costs and thus may have a positive influence on electricity prices. Moreover, there would be additional growth of production together with additional jobs, all of which would add up to nearly 42,000 persons for all sectors of the economy as compared to the basic scenario. Also, CO 2 emissions could be curbed by up to 50 million tons of carbon dioxide. The Study offers ample and valid reasons in favor of extending the lifetimes of nuclear power plants. In the interest of general welfare, politics would be well advised to relax the restrictions on plant life in the course of this legislative term. (orig.)

The cooling circuit vibration diagnostic system of the Block 1 of the Paks nuclear power station is described. The automatic online vibration monitoring system consisting presently of 42 acceleration sensors and 9 pressure fluctuation sensors, which could be extended, performs both global and local inspection of the primary cooling circuit and its components. The offline data processing system evaluates the data for failure mode analysis. The software under development will be appropriate for partial preliminary identification of failure reasons during their initial phases. The installation experiences and the preliminary results during the hot operational testing of Block 1 are presented. (Sz.J.)

This 2003 version of Elecnuc contents information, data and charts on the nuclear power plants in the world and general information on the national perspectives concerning the electric power industry. The following topics are presented: 2002 highlights; characteristics of main reactor types and on order; map of the French nuclear power plants; the worldwide status of nuclear power plants on 2002/12/3; units distributed by countries; nuclear power plants connected to the Grid by reactor type groups; nuclear power plants under construction; capacity of the nuclear power plants on the grid; first electric generations supplied by a nuclear unit; electrical generation from nuclearplants by country at the end 2002; performance indicator of french PWR units; trends of the generation indicator worldwide from 1960 to 2002; 2002 cumulative Load Factor by owners; nuclear power plants connected to the grid by countries; status of license renewal applications in Usa; nuclear power plants under construction; Shutdown nuclear power plants; exported nuclear power plants by type; exported nuclear power plants by countries; nuclear power plants under construction or order; steam generator replacements; recycling of Plutonium in LWR; projects of MOX fuel use in reactors; electricity needs of Germany, Belgium, Spain, Finland, United Kingdom; electricity indicators of the five countries. (A.L.B.)

We investigated the transfer of canopy-intercepted radiocesium to the forest floor during 3 years (July 2011~) following the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. The cesium-137 (Cs-137) contents of throughfall, stemflow, and litterfall were monitored in two coniferous stands (plantation of Japanese cedar) and a deciduous broad-leaved forest stand (Japanese oak with red pine). We also measured an ambient dose rate at different height in the forest by using a survey meter (TCS-172B, Hitachi-Aloka Medical, LTD.) and a portable Ge gamma-ray detector (Detective-DX-100T, Ortec, Ametek, Inc.). Furthermore, effects of forest decontamination on the reduction of ambient dose rate were assessed quantitatively. Total Cs-137 deposition flux from the canopy to forest floor for the mature cedar, young cedar, and the mixed broad-leaved stands were 157 kBq/m^2, 167 kBq/m^2, and 54 kBq/m^2, respectively. These values correspond to 36%, 39% and 12% of total atmospheric input after the accident. The ambient dose rate showed an exponential decrease with time for all the forest sites, however the decreasing trend differed depending on the forest type. These data suggested that an ambient dose rate in forest environment can be variable in spatially and temporally reflecting the transfer of radiocesium from canopy to forest floor. We presented the analysis results of the relationship between radiocesium deposition flux and ambient dose rate at the forest floor. In addition to that, we reported the effects of forest decontamination (e.g., tree felling, removal of organic materials, woodchip pavement) on the reduction of ambient dose rate in the forest environment.

A supply of energy is a necessary condition for maintaining the economy and the health and welfare of the people. For this reason, data on energy consumption are often used as an indicator of the level of development of a country. The Ukrainian economy is characterized by high consumption of energy resources. Heat and electric power plants make the main contribution to the production of electricity. In the last few years, in connection with the sharp increase in the price of fuel, changes have been made in the structure of fuel utilization at heat and electric power plants. The demand for oil and coal started to increase in 1992 (coal now comprises 60% of the total fuel consumption). At the present time there is a trend toward decreasing the consumption of oil and gas, which are imported into Ukraine, and correspondingly the consumption of local fuel resources has increased

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, has established the NuclearPlant Aging Research (NPAR) program in its Division of Engineering Technology. Principal contractors for this program include Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest Laboratory. The program goals are: to identify and characterize time-dependent degradation (aging) of nuclearplant safety-related electrical and mechanical components which could lead to loss of safety function; to identify and recommend methods for detecting and trending aging effects prior to loss of safety function so that timely maintenance can be implemented; and to recommend maintenance practices for mitigating the effects of aging. Research activities include prioritization of system and component aging in nuclearplants, characterization of aging degradation of specific components including identification of functional indicators useful for trending degradation, and testing of practical methods and devices for measuring the functional indicators. Aging assessments have been completed on electric motors, snubbers, motor-operated valves, and check valves. Testing of trending methods and devices for motor-operated valves and check valves is in progress

A structure for an underwater nuclear power generating plant comprising a triangular platform formed of tubular leg and truss members upon which are attached one or more large spherical pressure vessels and one or more small cylindrical auxiliary pressure vessels. (author)

This technical publication on competitive strategies for nuclear power plants (NPPs) is part of an ongoing project on management of NPP operations in a competitive environment. The overall objective of this project is to assist the management of operating organizations and NPPs in identifying and implementing appropriate measures to remain competitive in a rapidly changing business environment. Other documents that have been written on this topic have focused on how the environment in which NPPs operate is changing. This report instead focuses on strategies and techniques that operating organization and NPP managers can use to succeed in this environment. Of particular note is ongoing OECD/NEA work to describe the environment for nuclear power in competitive electricity markets. The main objective of the OECD/NEA study is to review the impacts of increasing market competition on the nuclear power sectors in OECD Member countries. The OECD/NEA study is identifying various nuclear aspects which have to be considered in relation to the regulatory reform of the electricity sector in OECD Member States. The OECD/NEA work was co-ordinated with the development of this IAEA report; staff members from the two organizations participated in the development and review of the associated documents. Thus, the strategies and techniques identified in this report are consistent with the impacts of increasing market competition identified in the OECD/NEA study

Purpose: To decrease the reducing speed of nuclear reactor water level after the water level has reached a turbine trip level to trip the turbine thereby preventing cooling systems or the likes from undesired operation upon separation caused by the reduction of the reactor water level to a low water level before the water level control is switched to the manual control. Constitution: Two feedwater pumps arranged in parallel are operated in usual operation to feedwater to a BWR type reactor. If a trouble should occur in a feedwater controller to increase the feedwater rate and the reactor water level, one of the feedwater pumps is tripped by a signal from a feedwater pump trip device. Then, when the trip level is reached again the remaining pump is tripped. In this way, the sudden decrease in the feedwater rate and the reactor water level can be prevented. (Yoshino, Y.)

What happens if a reactor accident occurs? Can victims of a nuclear accident be compensated for losses? The rights of a victim of a nuclear accident to be compensated for losses are governed by international conventions. These conventions make the licensee of a nuclearplant strictly liable. However, the maximum amount of compensation is limited. In Sweden the total liability of the plant-owner is maximized to 1.2 million Swedish Crowns, that is 0.02 oere/kWh. After the accidents of Harrisburg (1979) and Chernobyl (1986), it has become clear that the amounts of the various conventions are not at all sufficient to cover the damages caused by such an accident. In spite of these facts, there are a large number of reliable sources, who think that the insurance costs are negligible in the cost of production. A cost-benefit analysis based on a study performed by Ottinger et al. in 'Environmental costs of electricity' is therefore adopted to derive the costs of the external effects of nuclearplant operation and from releases to the environment during operation. The environmental externality costs of Swedish nuclear power plant operations are in this report estimated to 18.3 oere/kWh. This figure can be compared to the insurance cost, which for the present is 0.02 oere/kWh. The 'real' insurance cost including the external effects is calculated to approximately 1.12 billion Swedish Crowns] That is 900 times larger than the insurance premium, which the licensee of a nuclearplant faces] (au)

Power demands throughout the world are increasing: energy is essential to assure public health and to provide for the quality of life to which man aspires. Interest in the environmental aspects of nuclear power stations led the IAEA, in co-operation with the US Atomic Energy Commission, to convene a symposium in New York on this topic in August 1970. The enthusiastic response both during and after that meeting, and the interest in environmental matters evidenced by the convening of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in June this year, led to a decision to summarize the information presented in New York in a condensed and readily understandable form for those not engaged directly in this field of work. The resultant booklet, prepared in co-operation with the World Health Organization, has now been published under the title of this note. It is intended for wide distribution, especially among delegates and others attending the Stockholm conference. This initial distribution is free; it is probable that the booklet will be up-dated later for re-issue as a sales publication at a price to be fixed. 'Nuclear Power and the Environment' is presented in five sections, each treating a specific aspect of the general topic: the role of atomic energy in meeting future power needs; radiation protection standards; safe handling of radioactive materials; other impacts of the nuclear power industry; and public health considerations. The booklet concludes with a summary of the material presented, and annexes listing pertinent publications of the IAEA, WHO and other international organizations, for further reading. Contributions to the booklet were supplied by 28 experts from the IAEA and WHO and a number of Member States; these were compiled and edited in house. The interests and technical background of the prospective audience have a broader spectrum than one would normally try to cover with a single publication. For the lay public the IAEA has

A survey is presented of failures in the Dutch nuclear power plants Borssele (10) and Dodewaard (5) reported during the year 1988. This reporting takes place, since 1987, on the basis of the international failure-reporting system. This system is based on the 'Incident Reporting System' of the IAEA. During 1988 no failures did occur which made particular safety measurements necessary. Also these failures did not have any consequence for the environment. During all failures the reactor safety system of both power plants did operate well. (H.W.)

Purpose: To provide a constitution capable of previously and reliably preventing radioactivity from releasing into the atmosphere upon occurrence of main steam pipe rupture accidents in a main steam tunnel chamber. Constitution: The outer circumference at the penetration portion of a nuclear reactor container is tightly closed and the main steam tunnel chamber has a tightly closed vessel structure, which is cooled by a local cooler during normal operation. The main steam tunnel chamber is in communication with a pressure control chamber by way of a release line and a releaf valve is disposed at the midway of the release line. Upon occurrence of rupture accident to the main steam pipes in the main steam tunnel chamber, while steams are issued from the ruptured portion, they are discharged through the release line to the suppression chamber and condensated. As a result, excess pressure in the main steam tunnel can be prevented and when the rupture accident is detected, the main steam isolation valve is closed rapidly to interrupt the steam feeding, whereby the steam released from the ruptured pipeways is stopped to avoid the radioactivity release to the atmosphere. (Kamimura, M.)

Simple sentences easy to grasp are desirable in regulations and bans. However, in a legal system, their meaning must be unambiguous. Article 6, Paragraph 1 of the EURATOM Directive on a community framework for the nuclear safety of nuclear facilities of June 2009 states that 'responsibility for the nuclear safety of a nuclear facility is incumbent primarily on the licensee.' The draft 'Safety Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants, Revision D, April 2009' of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU) (A Module 1, 'Safety Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants: Basic Safety Criteria' / '0 Principles' Paragraph 2) reads: 'Responsibility for ensuring safety rests with the licensee. He shall give priority to compliance with the safety goal over the achievement of other operational objectives.' In addition, the existing rules and regulations, whose rank is equivalent to that of international regulations, assign priority to the safety goal to be pursued by the licensee over all other objectives of the company. The operator's responsibility for nuclear safety can be required and achieved only on the basis of permits granted, which must meet legal requirements. The operator's proximity to plant operation is the reason for his 'primary responsibility.' Consequently, verbatim incorporation of Article 6, Paragraph 1 of the EURATOM Directive would only be a superscript added to existing obligations of the operator - inclusive of a safety culture designed as an incentive to further 'the spirit of safety-related actions' - without any new legal contents and consequences. In the reasons of the regulation, this would have to be clarified in addition to the cryptic wording of 'responsibility.. primarily,' at the same time expressing that operators and authorities work together in a spirit of openness and trust. (orig.)

The light water passive plants program (PCNP), today Advanced Nuclear Power Plants Program (PCNA), was constituted in order to reach the goals of the Spanish Electrical Sector in the field of advanced nuclear power plants, optimize the efforts of all Spanish initiatives, and increase joint presence in international projects. The last update of this program, featured in revision 5th of the Program Report, reflects the consolidation of the Spanish sector's presence in International programs of the advanced power plants on the basis of the practically concluded American ALWR program. Since the beginning of the program , the PCNP relies on financing from the Electrical sector, Ocide, SEPI-Endesa, Westinghouse, General Electric, as well as from the industrial cooperators, Initec, UTE (Initec- Empresarios Agrupados), Ciemat, Enusa, Ensa and Tecnatom. The program is made up of the following projects, already concluded: - EPRI's Advanced Light Water Plants Certification Project - Westinghouse's AP600 Project - General Electric's SBWR Project (presently paralyzed) and ABWR project Currently, the following project are under development, at different degrees of advance: - EPP project (European Passive Plant) - EBWR project (European Advanced Boiling Water Reactor)

This work approaches the relative costs to nuclearplants in the Brazil. It also presents the calculation methods and its hypothesis to determinate the costs, and the nacional experience in costs of investment, operating and maintenance of the nuclearplants

The hydrographical and hydrological conditions at 17 prospective nuclear power plant sites in the Oslofjord district are evaluated with respect to their suitability as recipients for thermal discharges from nuclear power plants. No comparative evaluations are made. (JIW)

In a condensate cleanup system and a reactor water cleanup system of a BWR-type reactor, in which primary coolants flow, there is disposed a filtering and desalting device using hollow thread membrane filter and ion exchange resin for a condensate cleanup system, and using a high temperature filter made of a metal, a metal oxide or ceramics as a filtering material and a precoat filter made of a powdery ion exchange resin as a filtering material for a reactor water cleanup system. This can completely remove cruds generated in the condensate system. Since the reactor water cleanup system comprises the powdery resin precoat-type filtering and desalting device and the high temperature filter using ceramics, ionic impurities such as radioactive materials can be removed. Accordingly, cruds are not carried into the inside of the reactor, and since the radioactive concentration in the reactor water is reduced, radiation exposure upon periodical inspection can be minimized almost to zero, to attain a clean plant. (T.M.)

An advanced control room complex for a nuclear power plant, including a discrete indicator and alarm system which is nuclear qualified for rapid response to changes in plant parameters and a component control system which together provide a discrete monitoring and control capability at a panel in the control room. A separate data processing system, which need not be nuclear qualified, provides integrated and overview information to the control room and to each panel, through CRTs and a large, overhead integrated process status overview board. The discrete indicator and alarm system and the data processing system receive inputs from common plant sensors and validate the sensor outputs to arrive at a representative value of the parameter for use by the operator during both normal and accidental conditions, thereby avoiding the need for him to assimilate data from each sensor individually. The integrated process status board is at the apex of an information hierarchy that extends through four levels and provides access at each panel to the full display hierarchy. The control room panels are preferably of a modular construction, permitting the definition of inputs and outputs, the man machine interface, and the plant specific algorithms, to proceed in parallel with the fabrication of the panels, the installation of the equipment and the generic testing thereof. (author)

The German utilities operating nuclear power plants have long concerned themselves with aspects of decommissioning and for this purpose an engineering company was given a contract to study the entire spectrum of decommissioning. The results of this study have been available in autumn 1980 and it is possible to discuss all the aspects of decommissioning on a new basis. Following these results no change in the design concept of LWR nuclear power plants in operation or under construction is necessary because the techniques, necessary for decommissioning, are fully available today. The technical feasibility of decommissioning for power plants of Biblis A and KRB type has been shown in detail. The calculations of the quantity of waste produced during removal of a nuclear power plant could be confirmed and it could be determined with high procedure. The radiation dose to the decommissioning personnel is in the range of the radiation protection regulations and is in the same range as the radiation dose to the personnel within a yearly inservice inspection. (AF)

About 80 fire starts are reported in EDF nuclear power plants every year but only 3 or 4 turn into a real fire and none has, so far, has led to a major safety failure of a nuclearplant. A new regulation has been implemented in july 2014 that strengthens the concept of defense in depth, proposes an approach that is proportionate to the stakes and risks, this proportionality means that the requirements for a power reactor are not the same as for a nuclear laboratory, and imposes an obligation or result rather than of means. The second article deals with the fire that broke out in the waste silo number 130 at La Hague plant in january 1981. The investigation showed that the flammability of the silo content had been underestimated. The third article presents the consequences of the fire that broke out in a power transformer at the Cattenom plant in june 2013. The fire was rapidly brought under control thanks to the immediate triggering of the emergency plan. The article details also the feedback experience of this event. (A.C.)

The role foreseen for the SECURE (Safe Environmentally Clean Urban REactor) nuclear district heating plant is to provide the baseload heating needs of primarily the larger and medium size urban centers that are outside the range of waste heat supply from conventional nuclear power stations. The rationale of the SECURE concept is that the simplicity in design and the inherent safety advantages due to the use of low temperatures and pressures should make such reactors economically feasible in much smaller unit sizes than nuclear power reactors and should make their urban location possible. It is felt that the present design should be safe enough to make urban underground location possible without restriction according to any criteria based on actual risk evaluation. From the environmental point of view, this is a municipal heat supply plant with negligible pollution. Waste heat is negligible, gaseous radioactivity release is negligible, and there is no liquid radwaste release. Economic comparisons show that the SECURE plant is competitive with current fossil-fueled alternatives. Expected future increase in energy raw material prices will lead to additional energy cost advantages to the SECURE plant

A program for the transients simulation thermohydraulic calculation without loss of coolant (KWU-ENACE development) to evaluate Atucha I nuclear power plant behaviour is used. The program includes systems simulation and nuclear power plants control bonds with real parameters. The calculation results show a good agreement with the output 'protocol' of various transients of the nuclear power plant, keeping the error, in general, lesser than ± 10% from the variation of the nuclear power plant's state variables. (Author)

The deregulation of Europe's power market will force nuclear power plant operators to introduce extensive cost-cutting measures in order to be able to compete within this new environment. The optimization of plant outages provides considerable potential for raising plant availability but can also lower operating costs by reducing expenditure on maintenance. Framatome ANP GmbH, in cooperation with plant operators is currently developing new and improved service concepts which can have a major effect on the way in which maintenance will be performed in the future. The concepts encompass optimization of the overall sequence from planning in advance to the individual measures including reduction of the scope of maintenance activities, identification of cost cutting potential and bundling of maintenance activities. (Author)

Since the Browns Ferry incident, the specter of fires at nuclearplants has been the focus of attention by NRC, the utilities, and the public. There are sophisticated hardware and software available - in the form of fire-protection systems and equipment and training and fire-protection programs. Potential fire losses at nuclear faclities can be staggering. Thus, it behooves all those involved to maximize fire-protection security while simultaneously minimizing the chance of human error, which cancels out the effectiveness of the most up-to-date protective systems and devices

Nowadays everybody believes that all nuclear power plants are an inevitable risk for the life of the people in its environment; this is a prejudice. This article points out that it is possible to plan nuclear power plants in a way that no deaths in the population have to be feared, even in the heaviest possible disturbances. In order to realise such nuclear power plants, it is necessary either to improve the cooling of the fuel rods by passive additional safety measures of which one unlimitedly efficient thus excluding a nuclear melting accident or to improve the safety containers so that it remains sufficiently tight. (orig./HP) [de

As an overview of quality assurance programs in nuclear power plants, the energy picture as it appears today is reviewed. Nuclear power plants and their operations are described and an attempt is made to place in proper perspective the alleged ''threats'' inherent in nuclear power. Finally, the quality assurance programs being used in the nuclear industry are described

Nuclear power plant component failures are dealt with in relation to reliability in nuclear power engineering. The topics treated include classification of failures, analysis of their causes and impacts, nuclear power plant failure data acquisition and processing, interdependent failures, and human factor reliability in nuclear power engineering. (P.A.). 8 figs., 7 tabs., 23 refs

With this article about the Maintenance in nuclear power plants we will try to give to see the importance of this kind of installations but the problems found by the clients and contractors to face it, and some possible solutions to improve it. It is necessary to understand this problem like something inner to the installation and must be considerate like a benefit for the same. Of course, there must be adequate Sevices Companies in direct relation with the installation that take the responsibility of assuming and understanding the correct fulfillment of the fixed milestones to get the optimal working of the whole plant systems. (Author)

This small booklet summarizes in tables all the numerical data relative to the nuclear power plants worldwide. These data come from the French CEA/DSE/SEE Elecnuc database. The following aspects are reviewed: 1997 highlights; main characteristics of the reactor types in operation, under construction or on order; map of the French nuclear power plants; worldwide status of nuclear power plants at the end of 1997; nuclear power plants in operation, under construction and on order; capacity of nuclear power plants in operation; net and gross capacity of nuclear power plants on the grid and in commercial operation; forecasts; first power generation of nuclear origin per country, achieved or expected; performance indicator of PWR units in France; worldwide trend of the power generation indicator; nuclear power plants in operation, under construction, on order, planned, cancelled, shutdown, and exported; planning of steam generators replacement; MOX fuel program for plutonium recycling. (J.S.)

The present book describes the development of reactor safety in German light-water nuclear power plants from the beginnings with its multifarious links to model solutions seen in other countries, national and international research projects and accidents in conventional and nuclear power plants. It contains detailed, richly illustrated articles on specific safety techniques such as rupture safety of the pressurised envelope, safeguarding of emergency cooling in the event of accidents involving coolant loss, control technology and protection of the surroundings through containment. The results of national and international risk studies are discussed. It is shown how efforts on the part of industry, government and science to enhance safety resources and improve safety culture have been driven by a civic environment in which the use of nuclear energy has become a central issue of political debate. The book is written in readily comprehensible language and offers a wealth of material for further study.

Several definitions can be given to the design life of a nuclear power plant just as they can be attributed to the design life of an industrial installation: the book-keeping life which is the duration of the provision for depreciation of the plant, the licensed life which corresponds to the duration for which the plant license has been granted and beyond which a new license should be granted by the safety authorities, the design life which corresponds to the duration specified for ageing and fatigue calculations in the design of some selected components during the plant design phase, the technical life which is the duration of effective technical operation and finally the economic life corresponding to the duration of profitable operation of the plant compared with other means of electricity production. Plant life management refers to the measures taken to cope with the combination of licensed, design, technical and economical life. They can include repairs and replacements of components which have arrived to the end of their life due to known degradation processes such as fatigue, embrittlement, corrosion, wear, erosion, thermal ageing. In all cases however, it is of great importance to plan the intervention so as to minimise the economic impact. Predictive maintenance is used together with in-service inspection programs to fulfil this goal. The paper will go over the methodologies adopted in Belgium in all aspects of electrical, mechanical and civil equipment for managing plant life. (author)

This 2005 edition of the Elecnuc booklet summarizes in tables all numerical data relative to the nuclear power plants worldwide. These data come from the PRIS database managed by the IAEA. The following aspects are reviewed: 2004 highlights; main characteristics of reactor types; map of the French nuclear power plants on 2005/01/01; worldwide status of nuclear power plants at the end of 2004; units distributed by countries; nuclear power plants connected to the grid by reactor-type group; nuclear power plants under construction on 2004; evolution of nuclear power plant capacities connected to the grid; first electric generations supplied by a nuclear unit; electrical generation from nuclear power plants by country at the end 2004; performance indicator of PWR units in France; trend of the generation indicator worldwide; 2004 load factor by owners; units connected to the grid by countries at 12/31/2004; status of licence renewal applications in USA; nuclear power plants under construction at 12/31/2004; shutdown reactors; exported nuclear capacity in net MWe; exported and national nuclear capacity connected to the grid; exported nuclear power plants under construction or order; exported and national nuclear capacity under construction or order; recycling of plutonium in LWR; Mox licence plant projects; Appendix - historical development; acronyms, glossary

The textbook for training nuclear power plant personnel is centred on the most important aspects of operating modes of WWER-440 reactors. Attention is devoted to the steady state operation of the unit, shutdown, overhaul with refuelling, physical and power start-up. Also given are the regulations of shift operation and the duties of individual categories of personnel during the shift and during the change of shifts. (Z.M.). 3 figs., 1 tab

The digitalization and networking of control systems in nuclear power plants has brought significant improvements in system control, operation and maintenance. However, the highly digitalized control system also introduces additional security vulnerabilities. Moreover, the replacement of conventional proprietary systems with common protocols, software and devices makes these vulnerabilities easy to be exploited. Through the interaction between control systems and the physical world, security issues in control systems impose high risks on health, safety and environment. These security issues may even cause damages of critical infrastructures and threaten national security. The importance of control system security by reviewing several control system security incidents that happened in nuclear power plants was showed in recent years. Several key difficulties in addressing these security issues were described. Finally, existing researches on control system security and propose several promising research directions were reviewed. (authors)

A selective literature review was conducted to assess whether currently available accelerated aging and original qualification data could be used to establish operational margins for the continued use of cable insulation and jacketing materials in nuclear power plantenvironments. The materials are subject to chemical and physical degradation under extended radiationthermal- oxidative conditions. Of particular interest were the circumstances under which existing aging data could be used to predict whether aged materials should pass loss of coolant accident (LOCA) performance requirements. Original LOCA qualification testing usually involved accelerated aging simulations of the 40-year expected ambient aging conditions followed by a LOCA simulation. The accelerated aging simulations were conducted under rapid accelerated aging conditions that did not account for many of the known limitations in accelerated polymer aging and therefore did not correctly simulate actual aging conditions. These highly accelerated aging conditions resulted in insulation materials with mostly inert aging processes as well as jacket materials where oxidative damage dropped quickly away from the air-exposed outside jacket surface. Therefore, for most LOCA performance predictions, testing appears to have relied upon heterogeneous aging behavior with oxidation often limited to the exterior of the cable cross-section a situation which is not comparable with the nearly homogenous oxidative aging that will occur over decades under low dose rate and low temperature plant conditions. The historical aging conditions are therefore insufficient to determine with reasonable confidence the remaining operational margins for these materials. This does not necessarily imply that the existing 40-year-old materials would fail if LOCA conditions occurred, but rather that unambiguous statements about the current aging state and anticipated LOCA performance cannot be provided based on

This International Standard defines principles for the establishment and implementation of quality assurance programmes during all phases of design, procurement, fabrication, construction, commissioning, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of structures, systems and components of nuclear power plants. These principles apply to activities affecting the quality of items, such as designing, purchasing, fabricating, handling, shipping, storing, cleaning, erecting, installing, testing, commissioning, operating, inspecting, maintaining, repairing, refuelling and modifying and eventually decommissioning. The manner in which the principles described in this document will be implemented in different organizations involved in a specific nuclear power project will depend on regulatory and contractual requirements, the form of management applied to a nuclear power project, and the nature and scope of the work to be performed by different organizations

This document outlines that the French fleet of 58 reactors is only 25 year old in average, and that nuclear safety is strongly regulated, and notably relies on improved indicators and on a decennial re-assessment. It outlines that nuclear energy is a response to energy challenges and that it is therefore relevant to operate the nuclear fleet beyond the initially foreseen lifetime (40 years). Due to maintenance and renewal activities, plants are supposed to be safer and more efficient. To guarantee an always safer and more efficient operation in time, five actions are highlighted: decennial controls, installation and equipment modifications, control and anticipation of installation and equipment wear, competencies and ability renewal, better knowledge of techniques and technologies

Among the many effects of the accident at Three Mile Island are impacts upon other communities that currently host nuclear-power reactors. Because studies on communities' reactions not immediately available, this chapter reviews existing studies and speculates about possible effects. The patterns and variations in impacts on and responses of nuclear host communities have been the subject of studies at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, Tennessee) since 1972. This essay presents results from four post-licensing studies of host communities - Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Waterford, Connecticut (PL-1), and Brunswick, North Carolina, and Appling-Toombs counties, Georgia (PL-2) - along with case study and attitude survey information from two additional communities in which reactors are under construction: Hartsville, Tennessee, and Cherokee County, South Carolina. Differences and similarities between the sites have been assessed in terms of differences in input and social structure; factors affecting the generally favorable attitudes toward local nuclearplants are discussed

In nuclear power plants, the reduction of maintenance time, the reduction of radiation exposure and man-power saving are increasingly required. To achieve these purposes, various remote-controlled devices, such as robots in a broad sense, have been earnestly developed. Of these, three machines for replacing, four devices for inspection, two systems for cleaning, and two equipment for processing are tabulated in this paper. Typical eight machines or equipment are briefly introduced, mainly describing their features or characteristics. Those are: a remotely handling machine for control rod drive mechanism, an automatic refueling machine, an automatic ultrasonic flaw detection system replacing for a manually operated testing system for the welded parts of primary cooling system, an automatic cask washing machine for decontamination, a floor-type remote inspection vehicle for various devices operating inside power plants, a monorail-type remote inspection vehicle for inspection in spaces where floor space is short, and a remote-controlled automatic pipe welding machine for welding operations in a radioactive environment such as replacing the piping of primary cooling system. Most of these devices serves for radiation exposure reduction at the same time. Existing nuclear power plant design assumes direct manual maintenance, which limits the introduction of robots. Future nuclear power plants should be designed on the assumption of automatic remote-controlled tools and devices being used in maintenance work. (Wakatsuki, Y.)

Reduction in occupational exposure at nuclear power plants is desirable not only in the interest of the health and safety of plant personnel, but also because it enhances the safety and reliability of the plants. This report summarises the current trends of doses to workers at nuclear power plants and the achievements and developments regarding methods for their reduction

Recently there has been a noted worldwide increase in violent actions including attempted sabotage at nuclear power plants. Several organizations, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, have guidelines, recommendations, and formal threat- and risk-assessment processes for the protection of nuclear assets. Other examples are the former Defense Special Weapons Agency, which used a risk-assessment model to evaluate force-protection security requirements for terrorist incidents at DOD military bases. The US DOE uses a graded approach to protect its assets based on risk and vulnerability assessments. The Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation conduct joint threat and vulnerability assessments on high-risk US airports. Several private companies under contract to government agencies use formal risk-assessment models and methods to identify security requirements. The purpose of this paper is to survey these methods and present an overview of all potential types of sabotage at nuclear power plants. The paper discusses emerging threats and current methods of choice for sabotage--especially vehicle bombs and chemical attacks. Potential consequences of sabotage acts, including economic and political; not just those that may result in unacceptable radiological exposure to the public, are also discussed. Applicability of risk-assessment methods and mitigation techniques are also presented.

Life cycle costs of nuclear power plants in the United States are discussed. The author argues that these costs have been mishandled or neglected. Decommissioning costs have escalated, e.g. from $328 per unit in 1991 to $370 in 1993 for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, though they still only amount to less than 0.1 cent per kWh. Waste management has been complicated in the U.S. by the decision to abandon civilian reprocessing; by the year 2000, roughly 30 U.S. nuclear power units will have filled their storage pools; dry storage has been delayed, and will be an expense not originally envisaged. Some examples of costs of major component replacement are provided. No single component has caused as much operational disruption and financial penalties as the steam generator. Operation and maintenance costs have increased steadily, and now amount to more than 70% of production costs. A strategic plan by the Nuclear Power Oversight Committee (of U.S. utilities) will ensure that the ability to correctly operate and maintain a nuclear power plant is built into the original design. 6 figs

Recently there has been a noted worldwide increase in violent actions including attempted sabotage at nuclear power plants. Several organizations, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, have guidelines, recommendations, and formal threat- and risk-assessment processes for the protection of nuclear assets. Other examples are the former Defense Special Weapons Agency, which used a risk-assessment model to evaluate force-protection security requirements for terrorist incidents at DOD military bases. The US DOE uses a graded approach to protect its assets based on risk and vulnerability assessments. The Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation conduct joint threat and vulnerability assessments on high-risk US airports. Several private companies under contract to government agencies use formal risk-assessment models and methods to identify security requirements. The purpose of this paper is to survey these methods and present an overview of all potential types of sabotage at nuclear power plants. The paper discusses emerging threats and current methods of choice for sabotage--especially vehicle bombs and chemical attacks. Potential consequences of sabotage acts, including economic and political; not just those that may result in unacceptable radiological exposure to the public, are also discussed. Applicability of risk-assessment methods and mitigation techniques are also presented

The report describes different hypothetical accident scenarios at the Leningrad nuclear power plant for both RBMK and VVER-1200 reactors. The estimated release is combined with different meteorological scenarios to predict possible fallout of radioactive substances in Norway. For a hypothetical catastrophic accident at an RBMK reactor combined with a meteorological worst case scenario, the consequences in Norway could be considerable. Foodstuffs in many regions would be contaminated above the food intervention levels for radioactive cesium in Norway. (Author)

The report describes different hypothetical accident scenarios at the Leningrad nuclear power plant for both RBMK and VVER-1200 reactors. The estimated release is combined with different meteorological scenarios to predict possible fallout of radioactive substances in Norway. For a hypothetical catastrophic accident at an RBMK reactor combined with a meteorological worst case scenario, the consequences in Norway could be considerable. Foodstuffs in many regions would be contaminated above the food intervention levels for radioactive cesium in Norway. (Author)

This dossier deals with protection of nuclear installations against external risks. The articles come from the presentations of the Conference on 'Nuclear installations and their environment', held by the 'Safety and Environment Protection' Section of the French Nuclear Energy Society on October fifteenth 2002. Floods, earthquakes, winter cold, snow-falls, wind, fires are the main natural risks taken into account. Risks from industrial environment and communication lines are also considered. (author)

The article consists of the following sections: Introduction - current situation in the nuclear sector; (1) Where is Europe heading? (2) What options does the Czech Republic's have available? (3) Nuclear is the best solution; (4) What nuclear projects is CEZ Group preparing? (A - Contractor selection; B - Environmental impact assessment and licensing process; C- Associated investments); (5) Why at Temelin? (6) Safety and legislative requirements; (7) Which technologies? (8) Potential contractors; (8.1) AP1000; (8.2.) EPR; (8.3) MIR1200; (9) Completion of the NPP will contribute to the country's economic growth and competitiveness; (10) Contribution to environmental protection; and (11) The effects of the Temelin plant completion on the environment are assessed with the EIA procedure. (P.A.)

In nuclear power stations, centrally concentrated monitoring system has been adopted, and in central control rooms, large quantity of information and operational equipments concentrate, therefore, those become the important place of communication between plants and operators. Further recently, due to the increase of the unit capacity, the strengthening of safety, the problems of man-machine interface and so on, it has become important to concentrate information, to automate machinery and equipment and to simplify them for improving the operational environment, reliability and so on. On the relation of nuclear power stations and computer system, to which attention has been paid recently as the man-machine interface, the example in Tsuruga Power Station, Japan Atomic Power Co. is shown. No.2 plant in the Tsuruga Power Station is a PWR plant with 1160 MWe output, which is a home built standardized plant, accordingly the computer system adopted here is explained. The fundamental concept of the central control board, the process computer system, the design policy, basic system configuration, reliability and maintenance, CRT display, and the computer system for No.1 BWR 357 MW plant are reported. (K.I.)

Most of the desalination plants which are operating throughout the world utilize the energy from thermal power station which has the main disadvantage of polluting the environment due to combustion of fossil fuel and with the inevitable rise in prices of fossil fuel, nuclear driven desalination plants will become more economical. So it is proposed to set up nuclear desalination demonstration plant at the location of Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS), Kalpakkam. The desalination plant will be of a capacity 6300 m 3 /day and based on both Multi Stage Flash (MSF) and Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) processes. The MSF plant with performance ratio of 9 will produce water total dissolved solids (TDS-25 ppm) at a rate of 4500 m 3 /day from seawater of 35000 ppm. A part of this water namely 1000 m 3 /day will be used as Demineralised (DM) water after passing it through a mixed bed polishing unit. The remaining 3500 m 3 /day water will be mixed with 1800 m 3 /day water produced from the SWRO plant of TDS of 400 ppm and the same be supplied to industrial/municipal use. The sea water required for MSF and SWRO plants will be drawn from the intake/outfall system of MAPS which will also supply the required electric power pumping. There will be net 4 MW loss of power of MAPS namely 3 MW for MSF and 1 MW for SWRO desalination plants. The salient features of the project as well as the technical details of the both MSF and SWRO processes and its present status are given in this paper. It also contains comparative cost parameters of water produced by both processes. (author)

The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) used every year to summarize a trend survey on the private nuclear power plants in the world in a shape of the 'Nuclear power plants in the world'. In this report, some data at the end of 2002 was made up on bases of answers on questionnaires from 65 electric power companies and other nuclear organizations in 28 countries and regions around the world by JAIF. This report is comprised of 19 items, and contains generating capacity of the plants; current status of Japan; trends of generating capacity of operating the plants, the plant orders and generating capacity of the plants; world nuclear capacity by reactor type; status of MOX use in the world; location of the plants; the plants in the world; directory of the plants; nuclear fuel cycle facilities; and so forth. (J.P.N.)

The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc. (JAIF) used every year to summarize a trend survey on the private nuclear power plants in the world in a shape of the 'Nuclear power plants in the world'. In this report, some data at the end of 2007/2008 was made up on bases of answers on questionnaires from electric power companies and other nuclear organizations around the world by JAIF. This report is comprised of 18 items, and contains generating capacity of the plants; effect of the Niigata-ken chuetsu-oki earthquake; current status of Japan; trends of generating capacity of operating the plants, the plant orders and generating capacity of the plants; world nuclear capacity by reactor type; status of MOX use in the world; location of the plants; the plants in the world; directory of the plants; nuclear fuel cycle facilities, and so forth. (J.P.N.)

The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc. (JAIF) used every year to summarize a trend survey on the private nuclear power plants in the world in a shape of the 'Nuclear power plants in the world'. In this report, some data at the end of 2003 was made up on bases of answers on questionnaires from 81 electric power companies and other nuclear organizations in 33 countries and regions around the world by JAIF. This report is comprised of 19 items, and contains generating capacity of the plants; current status of Japan; trends of generating capacity of operating the plants, the plant orders and generating capacity of the plants; world nuclear capacity by reactor type; status of MOX use in the world; location of the plants; the plants in the world; directory of the plants; nuclear fuel cycle facilities; and so forth. (J.P.N.)

This document gathers different articles concerning the maintenance of the French nuclear power plants. The first article analyses the impact of the recent law on the energetic transition that sets the share of nuclear power at 50% of the electricity produced by 2025. A consequence may be the decommissioning of 17 to 20 reactors by 2025 and the huge maintenance program called 'Grand Carenage' whose aim is to extend operating life over 40 years will have to be re-considered in order to avoid useless expenses. The second article shows that in 2015 the French nuclear reactor fleet got very good results in terms of availability and safety. There were 49 scheduled outages and among them some ended ahead of time. The third article describes the specificities of the maintenance of a nuclear power plant, for instance the redundancy of some systems implies that maintenance has to deal with systems that have never functioned but must be ready to operate at any moment. Another specificity is the complexity of a nuclear power plant that implies an essential phase of preparation for maintenance operations. Because of safety requirements any maintenance operation has to be controlled, checked and may provide feedback. The fourth article presents the 'Grand Carenage' maintenance program that involves the following operations: the replacement of steam generators, the re-tubing of condensers, the replacement of the filtering drums used for cooling water, the testing of the reactor building, the hydraulic test of the primary circuit and the inspection of the reactor vessel. The fifth article focuses on the organization of the work-site for maintenance operations and the example of the Belleville-sur-Loire is described in the sixth article. Important maintenance operations like 'Grand Carenage' requires a strong collaboration with a network of specialized enterprises and as no reactor (except Flamanville EPR) is being built in France, maintenance

This paper is a discussion of an emerging concept for improving nuclearplant outage performance - integrated outage management. The paper begins with an explanation of what the concept encompasses, including a scope definition of the service and descriptions of the organization structure, various team functions, and vendor/customer relationships. The evolvement of traditional base scope services to the integrated outage concept is addressed and includes discussions on changing customer needs, shared risks, and a partnership approach to outages. Experiences with concept implementation from a single service in 1984 to the current volume of integrated outage management presented in this paper. We at Westinghouse believe that the operators of nuclear power plants will continue to be aggressively challenged in the next decade to improve the operating and financial performance of their units. More and more customers in the U. S. are looking towards integrated outage as the way to meet these challenges of the 1990s, an arrangement that is best implemented through a long-term partnering with a single-source supplier of high quality nuclear and turbine generator outage services. This availability, and other important parameters

The Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear safety (STUK) is the authority in Finland responsible for controlling the safety of the use of nuclear energy. The control includes, among other things, inspection of documents, reports and other clarification submitted to the STUK, and also independent safety analyses and inspections at the plant site. The guide presents what reports and notifications of the operation of the nuclear facilities are required and how they shall be submitted to the STUK. The guide does not cover reports to be submitted on nuclear material safeguards addressed in the guide YVL 6.10. Guide YVL 6.11 presents reporting related to the physical protection of nuclear power plants. Monitoring and reporting of occupational exposure at nuclear power plants is presented in the guide YVL 7.10 and reporting on radiological control in the environment of nuclear power plants in the guide YVL 7.8

The different types of simulator for nuclear power plants depend on the kind of programme and the degree of representation to be achieved, which in turn determines the functions to duplicate. Different degrees correspond to different simulators and hence to different choices in the functions. Training of nuclear power plant operators takes advantage of the contribution of simulators of various degrees of complexity and fidelity. Reduced scope simulators are best for understanding basic phenomena; replica simulators are best used for formal qualification and requalification of personnel, while modular mini simulators of single parts of a plant are best for replay and assessment of malfunctions. Another category consists of simulators for the development of assistance during operation, with the inclusion of disturbance and alarm analysis. The only existing standard on simulators is, at present, the one adopted in the United States. This is too stringent and is never complied with by present simulators. A description of possible advantages of a European standard is therefore offered: it rests on methods of measurement of basic simulator characteristics such as fidelity in values and time. (author)

A project in the American Electric Power Service Corporation to review operating and maintenance experience at Cook NuclearPlant to identify recommendations for advanced nuclearplant design is described. Recommendations so gathered in the areas of plant fluid systems, instrument and control, testing and surveillance provisions, plant layout of equipment, provisions to enhance effective maintenance, ventilation systems, radiological protection, and construction, are presented accordingly. An example for a design review checklist for effective plant operations and maintenance is suggested

In public international law there are no rules prohibiting the construction or operation of nuclearplants, or regulating their siting. Emanations of nuclearplants - conventional or radioactive - are regarded as pollutants. Transfrontier pollution has to be prevented and controlled according to the rules of customary international law, which have developed on the basis of the Trail Smelter Award of 1941 and which are restated in the Montreal Rules of International Law Applicable to Transfrontier Pollution 1982 of the ILA. The neighbouring state has a right to obtain all reasonable information concerning the prospective siting of plants and has to be consulted in certain respects. These procedural duties are substantiated in bilateral agreements setting up mixed commissions. In the European Communities members are obliged to report any planned emanation of radioactive substances which might pollute the environment of another member to the EC Commission. Strict liability for any damage caused by a nuclear installation is stipulated in special conventions. As far as these conventions are not applicable, the general rules on state responsibility and on civil liability apply. States are not obliged under International Law to allow residents of neighbouring states to participate in administrative or judicial proceedings concerning the licensing. In practice, however, foreigners challenging the issue of a licence have the same standing as the citizens of the licensing state. (author)

In this leaflet the short history of commissioning of Bohunice V-2 NPP is reviewed (beginning of construction December 1976; First controlled reactor power, Reactor Unit 1 (RU1): 7 August 1984, Reactor Unit 2 (RU2): 2 August 1985; Connection to the grid: RU1 20 August 1984, RU2 9 August 1985; Commercial operation: RU1 14 February 1985, RU2 18 December 1985. The scheme of the nuclear reactor WWER 440/V213 is depicted. The major technological equipment are described. Principles of nuclear power plant operation safety (safety barriers, active and passive safety systems, centralized heat supply system, as well as technical data of the Bohunice V-2 NPP are presented

The material of the Jadwisin 93' seminar is the collection 20 of 19 articles discussing aspects of the subject of nuclear energy and natural environment. The lectures were presented at six sessions: 1) Nuclear energy applications in medicine, agriculture, industry, food preservation and protection of the environment; 2) Nuclear power in the world; 3) Public attitudes towards different energy options, the example of Sweden; 4) Nuclear power in neighbouring countries; 5) Radiation and human health; 6) Radioactive waste management and potential serious radiological hazards. The general conclusion of the seminar can be as follows. In some cases the nuclear power is a source of environment pollution but very often nuclear techniques are now used and certainly more often in the future will be used for environment and human health protection

In this popular scientific brochure a brief description of construction scheme of Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant is presented. Electricity generation in a nuclear power plant is described. Instrumentation and control system as well as nuclear safety principles applied on the NPP are presented

The article first deals with the permanently increasing demand for electical power. Considering the ever growing energy demand which can no longer be covered by conventional power plants, it has become necessary to set up nuclear power plants of larger range. The author presents in a survey the basic function of nuclear power plants as well as the resulting risks and safety measures. The author concludes that according to present knowledge there is no more need to erect nuclear power plants outside densely populated urban areas but there is now the possibility of erecting nuclear power plants in densely populated areas. (orig./LH) [de

In order to avoid losses of energy and seawater pollution an off-shore nuclear power plant is coupled with a power plant which utilizes the temperature difference between seawater and hot reactor cooling water. According to the invention the power plant has a working media loop which is separated from the nuclear power plant. The apparative equipment and the operational characteristics of the power plant are the subject of the patent. (UWI) [de

Guidelines acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing in the development of a fire protection program for nuclear power plants. The purpose of the fire protection program is to ensure the capability to shut down the reactor and maintain it in a safe shutdown condition and to minimize radioactive releases to the environment in the event of a fire. If designs or methods different from the guidelines presented herein are used, they must provide fire protection comparable to that recommended in the guidelines. Suitable bases and justification should be provided for alternative approaches to establish acceptable implementaion of General Design Criterion 3

NUCLEAR POWER PLANT DESIGN is intended to be used as a working reference book for management, engineers and designers, and as a graduate-level text for engineering students. The book is designed to combine theory with practical nuclear power engineering and design experience, and to give the reader an up-to-date view of the status of nuclear power and a basic understanding of how nuclear power plants function. Volume 1 contains the following chapters; (1) nuclear reactor theory; (2) nuclear reactor design; (3) types of nuclear power plants; (4) licensing requirements; (5) shielding and personnel exposure; (6) containment and structural design; (7) main steam and turbine cycles; (8) plant electrical system; (9) plant instrumentation and control systems; (10) radioactive waste disposal (waste management) and (11) conclusion

A short description of the TMI power plant is given. The course of events leading to the reactor accident and that of the first two weeks is described. The effect on the environment is estimated. The reasons and consequences of the accident are analysed. The probability of such an accident at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant is estimated. (R.J.)

A report is given on the operating results achieved in 2016, events important to plant safety, special and relevant repair, and retrofit measures from nuclear power plants in Germany. Reports about nuclear power plants in Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Spain will be published in a further issue.

The presentation evaluates the present situation of the Dukovany nuclear power plant operation. It analyses the present at the plant, and also in both the near and distant localities. Based on these analyses the conclusions and targets that are necessary for keeping the plant's safe operation are made. From the current situation the report about the results of the year 1999 in the operation and financial field, stress on the safety index, is presented. Further, there is a list of finished and semi-finished activities that are taking place within the harmonization of the Dukovany NPP. At the same time the report presents the terms of licensing and the going of implementation of the 'KAPA' project - the complex application of the Atomic Energy Act. In the part, comparison to the environment, there is an example of a comparison with the results of a plant in the EU. Further the report compares the advantages and disadvantages of the WWER reactors with other light water reactors. In the last part of the presentation there is a brief opinion of the author on the steps that are awaiting us in the future. First, the 'Harmonization program' of Dukovany NPP is explained, its philosophy and principles. The basic idea is to take the right steps and strategic decisions, with the vision for the operation till the year 2025 at least. There is also a list of the most important events that are planned to increase the safety. Further the report goes briefly over the current situation in the filed of nuclear energy in the period of joining the European Union and also mentions the risks that result from this process. It concludes with the prognosis for the further position of the Dukovany nuclear power plant. (author)

This document presents the seven projects based on partnerships between several bodies, companies and agencies (CNRS, CEA, Areva, EDF, IRSN, ANDRA, BRGM) on research programmes on nuclear systems and scenarios, on resources (mines, processes, economy), on the processing and packaging of radioactive wastes, on the behaviour of materials for storage, on the impact of nuclear activities on the environment, on the relationship between nuclear, risks and society, and on materials for nuclear energy

The IAEA Director General pointed out that continued and expanded use of nuclear power must be one among several measures to restrain the use of fossil fuels and thereby limit the emissions of greenhouse gases. With regards to future trends in world electricity demands, the Director General emphasized the existing gap between the frequent claims as to what conservation can achieve and actual energy plans. The objections to nuclear power which are related to safety, waste disposal and the risk of proliferation of nuclear weapons are also discussed. His conclusion is that nuclear power can help significantly to meet growing needs of electricity without contributing to global warming, acid rains or dying forests, responsible management and disposal of nuclear wastes is entirely feasible, and the safety of nuclear power must be continuously strengthened through technological improvement and methods of operation

... factors: (1) License renewal will involve nuclear power plants for which the environmental impacts of...) Changes in the environment around nuclear power plants are gradual and predictable. The 1996 GEIS improved... environmental impacts that may occur from renewing commercial nuclear power plant operating licenses; (2...

The system of meteorological service is presented which is part of the nuclear power plant monitoring system. Tasks are described which the meteorological service fulfils in routine nuclear power plant operation and in case of accident. The meteorological service also studies the potential impacts of heat emissions and water effluents on the environment of nuclear power plants. (E.S.)

Barsebaeck should, according to the government decision, have been closed before the 1st of July 1998, but the Supreme Administrative Court ruled on Stay of Execution, after Barsebaeck Kraft had applied for judicial review. The Threat of a Phase out of Barsebaeck 1 started in 1980, due to the accident at Three Mile Island. Swedish opinion Opinion polls (Nov 97, March 98 and May 98) shows that about 80 percent of the Swedish population want to use nuclear power until the existing reactors have to be stopped for safety or economical reasons. About 20 percent of these want to develop nuclear power. Average or high confidence in Barsebaeck has 94 percent on the Swedish side and 74 percent in Copenhagen 1998. From February 1997 till August 1998 Barsebaeck personnel have executed several information activities to stress our message that Barsebaeck is necessary for the environment, the jobs and the economy

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) regulates the use of nuclear energy and materials to protect health, safety, security of Canadians and the environment, and to implement Canada's international commitments on the peaceful use of nuclear energy. As part of its mandate, the CNSC requires certification of those who work in positions with direct impact on the safety of Canadian nuclear power plants (NPPs) and research reactors. Other positions, such as exposure device operators and radiation safety officers at other nuclear facilities, also require CNSC certification. In this paper, the certification process of Canadian NPP personnel will be examined. In keeping with the CNSC's regulatory philosophy and international practice, licensees bear the primary responsibility for the safe operation of their NPPs. They are therefore held entirely responsible for training and testing their workers, in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements, to ensure they are fully qualified to perform their duties. The CNSC obtains assurance that all persons it certifies are qualified to carry out their respective duties. It achieves this by overseeing a regime of licensee training programs and certification examinations, which are based on a combination of appropriate regulatory guidance and compliance activities. Reviews of the knowledge-based certification examination methodology and of lessons learned from Fukushima have generated initiatives to further strengthen the CNSC's certification programs for NPP workers. Two of those initiatives are discussed in this paper. (author)

The commercialization of nuclear power plant decommissioning is presented as a step in the commercialization of nuclear energy. Opportunities for technology application advances are identified. Utility planning needs are presented

TOSHIBA aims to secure safety, increase reliability and improve efficiency through the engineering for nuclear power plant using Computer Aided Engineering (CAE). TOSHIBA CAE system for nuclear power plant consists of numbers of sub-systems which had been integrated centering around the Nuclear Power Plant Engineering Data Base (PDBMS) and covers all stage of engineering for nuclear power plant from project management, design, manufacturing, construction to operating plant service and preventive maintenance as it were 'Plant Life-Cycle CAE System'. In recent years, TOSHIBA has been devoting to extend the system for integrated intelligent CAE system with state-of-the-art computer technologies such as computer graphics and artificial intelligence. This paper shows the outline of CAE system for nuclear power plant in TOSHIBA. (author)

Since 2006 the nuclear sector in Argentina has aimed at recovering and strengthening its capabilities and facilities. Part of the challenge posed by this revival has been to also accompany the development of activities with a higher level of responsibility for safety and the environment. Among the strategic decisions taken in recent years, one main highlight is the construction of the nuclear power plant CAREM25 entirely with Argentine technology and design under the responsibility of the National Atomic Energy Commission. On February 4, 2015, the Ministry of Federal Planning and the National Energy Administration (NEA) signed the agreement for cooperation and construction of pressurized water reactor (PWR) with ACP-1000 technology, developed in the Peoples Republic of China.

Plants grown in microgravity are subject to many environmental stresses, which may promote microbial growth and result in pathogenicity to the plant. Recent plant experiments with super dwarf wheat aboard the NASA Space Shuttle and NASA/Russian Mir Space Station returned from the mission with severe degrees of fungal contamination. Understanding the cause of such microbial contamination and methods to eliminate it are necessary prerequisites for continued plant growth and development studies ...

HVDC transmission directly from a nuclear power plant is expected as one of the bulk power transmission systems from distant power generating area. Successively from the analysis of HVDC transmission from BWR-type nuclear power plant, this report discusses dynamic response characteristics of HVDC transmission (double poles, two circuits) from PWR type nuclear power plant due to dc-line faults (DC-1LG, 2LG) and ac-line faults (3LG) near inverter station. (author)

As the operation-year of nuclear power plant increases and finding sites for new nuclear power plant becomes harder, a comprehensive and systematic nuclearplant lifetime management(PLIM) program including life extension has to be established for stable and safe supply of electricity. A feasibility study was conducted to systematically evaluate technical, economic and regulatory aspect of plant lifetime managements and plant life extension for Kori-1 nuclear power plant. For technical evaluation of nuclear power plant, 13 major components were selected for lifetime evaluation by screening system. structure, and components(SSCs) of the plant. It was found that except reactor pressure vessel, which needs detailed integrity analysis, and low pressure turbine, which is scheduled to be replaced, 11 out of 13 major components have sufficient service life, for more than 40 years. Because domestic rules and regulations related to license renewal has not yet been written, review on the regulatory aspect of life extensions was conducted using US NRC rules and regulations. A cooperative effort with nuclear regulatory body is needed for early completion of license renewal rules and regulations. For economic evaluation of plant lifetime extension, a computer program was developed and used. It was found that 10 to 20 year of extension operation of Kori-1 nuclear power plant was proved. Based on the results, next phase of plant lifetime management program for detailed lifetime evaluation and presenting detailed implementation schedule for plant refurbishment for lifetime extension should be followed. (author). 74 refs., figs.

Various conditions for the construction of nuclear power plants in Japan without natural resources were investigated. Expansion of the sites of plants, change of reactor vessels, standardization of nuclear power plants, possiblity of the reduction of construction period, approaching of nuclear power plants to consuming cities, and group construction were studied. Evaluation points were safety and economy. Previous sites of nuclear power plants were mostly on plane ground or cut and enlarge sites. Proposals for underground or offshore plants have been made. The underground plants were made at several places in Europe, and the ocean plant is now approved in U.S.A. as a plant on a man-made island. Vessels for containing nuclear reactors are the last barriers to the leakage of radioactive substance. At the initial period, the vessels were made of steel, which were surrounded by shielding material. Those were dry well type containers. Then, vessel type changed to pressure-suppression type wet containers. Now, it tends to concrete (PC or RC) type containers. There is the policy on the standardization of nuclear power plants by U.S.A.E.C. in recent remarkable activity. The merit and effect of the standardization were studied, and are presented in this paper. Cost of the construction of nuclear power plants is expensive, and interest of money is large. Then, the reduction of construction period is an important problem. The situations of plants approaching to consuming cities in various countries were studied. Idea of group construction is described. (Kato, T.)

As the operation-year of nuclear power plant increases and finding sites for new nuclear power plant becomes harder, a comprehensive and systematic nuclearplant lifetime management(PLIM) program including life extension has to be established for stable and safe supply of electricity. A feasibility study was conducted to systematically evaluate technical, economic and regulatory aspect of plant lifetime managements and plant life extension for Kori-1 nuclear power plant. For technical evaluation of nuclear power plant, 13 major components were selected for lifetime evaluation by screening system. structure, and components(SSCs) of the plant. It was found that except reactor pressure vessel, which needs detailed integrity analysis, and low pressure turbine, which is scheduled to be replaced, 11 out of 13 major components have sufficient service life, for more than 40 years. Because domestic rules and regulations related to license renewal has not yet been written, review on the regulatory aspect of life extensions was conducted using US NRC rules and regulations. A cooperative effort with nuclear regulatory body is needed for early completion of license renewal rules and regulations. For economic evaluation of plant lifetime extension, a computer program was developed and used. It was found that 10 to 20 year of extension operation of Kori-1 nuclear power plant was proved. Based on the results, next phase of plant lifetime management program for detailed lifetime evaluation and presenting detailed implementation schedule for plant refurbishment for lifetime extension should be followed. (author). 74 refs., figs.

To ensure the safety operation of nuclear power plant, one should strictly adhere to the implelmentation of safety codes and the establishment of nuclear safety code system, as well as the applicable basic safety principles of nuclear power plants. This article briefly introduce the importance of nuclear codes and its economic benefits and the implementation of basic safety principles to be accumulated in practice for many years by various countries

It is a final report of the research that is a study on the development and application of expert system for nuclear power plants and development of the schemes computing environments and user interfaces for the expert system, which is a systematic and efficient development of expert system for nuclear power plants in the future. This report is consisted of -Development trends of expert system for nuclear power plants. -Classification of expert system applications for nuclear power plants. -Systematic and efficient developments schemes of expert system for nuclear power plants, and -Suitable computing environments and user interfaces for the expert systems. (author). 113 refs., 85 figs.

It is a final report of the research that is a study on the development and application of expert system for nuclear power plants and development of the schemes computing environments and user interfaces for the expert system, which is a systematic and efficient development of expert system for nuclear power plants in the future. This report is consisted of -Development trends of expert system for nuclear power plants. -Classification of expert system applications for nuclear power plants. -Systematic and efficient developments schemes of expert system for nuclear power plants, and -Suitable computing environments and user interfaces for the expert systems. (author). 113 refs., 85 figs.

With the ultimate aim of reducing the possibility of human error in nuclear power plant operations, the Guidebook discusses the organizational aspects, the staffing requirements, the educational systems and qualifications, the competence requirements, the ways to establish, preserve and verify competence, the specific aspects of personnel management and training for nuclear power plant operations, and finally the particular situations and difficulties to be overcome by utilities starting their first nuclear power plant. An important aspect presented in the Guidebook is the experience in training and qualification of nuclear power plant personnel in various countries: Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States of America

The duties to be performed in managing the operation of a nuclear power plant are highly diverse, as will be explained in this contribution by the examples of the Grafenrheinfeld Nuclear Power Station. The excellent safety record and the high availabilities of German nuclear power plants demonstrate that their operators have adopted the right approaches. Systematic evaluation of the operating experience accumulated inhouse and in other plants is of great significance in removing weak spots and improving operation. The manifold and complex activities in the structure of organization and of activities in a nuclear power plant require a high degree of division of labor. (orig.) [de

During the third quarter of 1990 the Finnish nuclear power plant units Loviisa 1 and 2 and TVO I and II were in commercial operation for most of the time. The annual maintenance outages of the Loviisa plant units were held during the report period. All events during this quarter are classified as Level hero (Below Scale) on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Occupational radiation doses and external releases of radioactivity were below authorised limits. Only small amounts of radioactive substances originating in nuclear power plants were detected in samples taken in the vicinity of nuclear power plants

Guidance is provided for the development and implementation of emergency control centers for nuclear power plants, including nuclearplant control room, nuclearplant company headquarters, emergency control center, and nuclearplant alternate emergency control center. Requirements and recommendations are presented for the mission, communications, instrumentation and equipment associated with each type of control center. Decisional aids, manning requirements and resources are also given; the decision aids cover both the accident assessment and protective action areas. Both normal and alternate means of communications are considered. Off-site emergency control centers, although not covered in the strict sense by this standard, are considered in an appendix

Based on the design standards for the safety of nuclear and radiation in nuclear power plants, the three accidents in the history of nuclear power are analyzed. And the main factors for these accidents are found out, that is, human factors and unpredicted natural calamity. By combining the design and operation parameters of domestic nuclearplants, the same accidents are studied and some necessary preventive schemes are put forward. In the security operation technology of domestic nuclear power plants nowadays, accidents caused by human factors can by prevented completely. But the safety standards have to be reconsidered for the unpredicted neutral disasters. How to reduce the hazard of nuclear radiation and leakage to the level that can be accepted by the government and public when accidents occur under extreme conditions during construction and operation of nuclear power plants must be considered adequately. (authors)

Quarterly Reports on the operation of Finnish nuclear power plants describe nuclear and radiation safety related events and observations which the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (STUK) considers safety significant. Safety improvements at the plants and general matters relating to the use of nuclear energy are also reported. A summary of the radiation safety of plant personnel and of the environment, and tabulated data on the plants` production and load factors are also given. (4 figs., 4 tabs.).

Quarterly Reports on the operation of Finnish nuclear power plants describe nuclear and radiation safety related events and observations which the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (STUK) considers safety significant. Safety improvements at the plants and general matters relating to the use of nuclear energy are also reported. A summary of the radiation safety of plant personnel and of the environment, and tabulated data on the plants' production and load factors are also given. (4 figs., 4 tabs.)

The technical development of the large capacity steam turbines for ABWR plants was partially completed, and that in progress is expected to be completed soon. In this report, the outline of those new technologies is described. As the technologies for increasing the capacity and heightening the efficiency, 52 in long blades and moisture separating heaters are explained. Besides, in the large bore butterfly valves developed for making the layout compact, the effect of thermal efficiency rise due to the reduction of pressure loss can be expected. As the new technology on the system side, the simplification of the turbine system and the effect of heightening the thermal efficiency by high pressure and low pressure drain pumping-up method based on the recent improvement of feed water quality are discussed. As for nuclear steam turbines, the actual records of performance of 1100 MW class, the largest output at present, have been obtained, and as a next large capacity machine, the development of a steam turbine of 1300 MWe class for an ABWR plant is in progress. It can be expected that by the introduction of those new technologies, the plants having high economical efficiency are realized. (Kako, I.)

The report presents proposals for organizing and financing of the treatment and deposition of spent fuel and radioactive waste. Decommissioning of plants is taken into consideration. The proposals refer to a program of twelve reactors. A relatively complete model for the handling of radioactive waste in Sweden is at hand. The cost for the years 1980 to 2000 is estimated at approx 1040 million SKr. Also the expense to dispose of the rest of the waste is calculated up to the year 2060, when the waste is planned to be put into final deposit. The state must have substantial influence over the organization which should be closely connected to the nuclear industry. Three different types of organization are discussed, namely (i) a company along with a newly created authority, (ii) a company along with the existing Nuclear Power Inspectorate or (iii) a company along with a board of experts. The proposals for financing the cost of handling nuclear waste are given in chief outlines. The nuclear industry should reserve means to special funds. The allocations are calculated to 1.4 oere per delivered kWh up to and including the year 1980. The accumulated allocations for 1979 should thus amount to 1310 million SKr. The charge for supervision and for certain research and development is recommended to be 0.1 oere per kWh which corresponds to approx 23 million SKr for 1980. The funds should be assured by binding agreements which must be approved by the state. The amounts are given in the monetary value of the year 1979. (G.B.)

2 subjects are treated: the regular public opinion poll ordered by CEA, EdF, COGEMA and FRAMATOME and the denuclearization of one of the nuclear research center belonging to CEA. Every year in december the BVA polling institute leads a public opinion poll about how nuclear activities are perceived by people. This year about 1000 people have been questioned about the French nuclear power program, radioactivity, safety in nuclear facilities, nuclear wastes, information and public debates. The most meaningful result is that now fewer people think that nuclear energy will play a major role in 10 or 20 years. More people now think that radioactivity even at very low doses is dangerous. In 1946 the ZOE reactor was built on the site of the ancient stronghold of Chatillon which became the nuclear research center of Fontenay-aux-roses in april 1957. From 1958 to 1962 ZOE and a pilot unit of spent fuel reprocessing were dismantled. The test reactor Triton whose definitive shutdown took place in 1982, underwent a complete decontamination, as for Minerve reactor it was removed to Cadarache. The hot laboratories in which methods concerning the fabrication of plutonium fuels, the reprocessing and the handling of high activity wastes have been settled and tested, are due to be dismantled. 20 hot cells, 134 glove boxes and about 100 tanks of liquid effluents are involved. CEA has budgeted 910 millions of francs for the complete denuclearization of this site, it will be over in 2010. (A.C.)

This rubric reports on 12 short notes about sociological and environmental aspects of nuclear power in France and other countries: the epidemiological inquiry widened to all French nuclear sites; the sanitary and radioecological effects of nuclear activities in Northern Cotentin (France); the WONUC (World National Council of Nuclear Workers) anger with the French government about the shutdown of Superphenix reactor; the new more informative promotional campaign of Electricite de France (EdF) for nuclear power; the scientific and research prices attributed by the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) to its searchers; the creation of a committee of inquiry in the French senate for the careful examination of the economical, social and financial consequences of the shutdown of Superphenix; the 31.2% increase of CEA-Industrie benefits for 1997; the decrease of nuclear contestation in Germany; the French-German communication efficiency during the Fessenheim accident simulation in October 7, 1997; the 3.5% increase of CO 2 emissions in the USA; the decommissioning of 3 Russian reactors for military plutonium production; Greenpeace condemnation for abusive purposes against British Nuclear Fuel plc (BNFL) and its activities at Sellafield (UK). (J.S.)

Space systems must operate in the hostile natural environment of space. In the event of a war, these systems may also be exposed to the radiation environments created by the explosions of nuclear warheads. The effects of these environments on a space system and hardening techniques are discussed in the paper

Data retrieval, processing retrieved data, and maintaining the plant documentation system to reflect the as-built condition of the plant are challenging tasks for most existing nuclear facilities. The information management systems available when these facilities were designed and constructed are archaic by today's standards. Today's plant documentation systems generally include hard copy drawings and text, drawings in various CAD formats, handwritten information, and incompatible databases. These existing plant documentation systems perpetuate inefficiency for the plant technical staff in the performance of their daily activities. This paper discusses data retrieval techniques and tools available to nuclear facilities to minimize the impacts of the existing plant documentation system on plant technical staff productivity

Nuclear Power Plant Angra 2, located at Itaorna Beach-Angra dos Reis is the first plant of the Brazilian-German Agreement to be commissioned. The Nuclear Power Plant is a pressurized water reactor rated at 3765 Mw thermal/1325 Mw electrical. For commissioning purpose the plant is divided into 110 systems. Plant commissioning objective is to demonstrate the safe and correct operation of each plan component, system and of the whole plant in agreement with design conditions, licensing requirements and contractual obligations. This work gives a description of plant commissioning objectives, activities their time sequence, and documentation. (Author) [pt

The multidisciplinary aspects of the activities involved in the nuclear power plant (NPP) licensing, are presented. The activities of CNEN's technical staff in the licensing of Angra-1 and Angra-2 power plants are shown. (E.G.) [pt

Risk Monitor is a tool to monitor the real-time risk of a nuclear power plant for risk management and comprehensive decision-making, which has been widely used all over the world. The nuclear power plant Risk Monitor applies the real-time risk model with low-complicacy that could reflect the plant's actual configuration, automatically reads the plant's configuration information from the engineering system through the developed interface, and efficiently analyzes the plant's risk Dy the intelligent parallel-computing method in order to provide the risk basement for the safety management of nuclear power plant. This paper generally introduces the background, architecture, functions and key technical features of a nuclear power plant Risk Monitor, and validates the risk result, which could well reflect the plant's risk information and has a significant practical value. (authors)

The probability analysis of risk is described used for quantifying the risk of complex technological systems, especially of nuclear power plants. Risk is defined as the product of the probability of the occurrence of a dangerous event and the significance of its consequences. The process of the analysis may be divided into the stage of power plant analysis to the point of release of harmful material into the environment (reliability analysis) and the stage of the analysis of the consequences of this release and the assessment of the risk. The sequence of operations is characterized in the individual stages. The tasks are listed which Czechoslovakia faces in the development of the probability analysis of risk, and the composition is recommended of the work team for coping with the task. (J.C.)

The performance of nuclear power plants can be assessed in several different fields: operating costs, safety, reliability of electricity generation, impact on the environment and personnel protection (industrial safety, radiation protection, etc.). Comparing national and international performance levels involves the use of performance indicators, together with a terminology, precise definitions and computerized data collection and processing facilities. The paper gives a brief review of the different actions undertaken during the last ten years to achieve international harmonization in the use of indicators. The main international indicators in use today by virtually all nuclear operators around the world are examined. Figures are given for each of these main indicators. In particularly, the levels of 'excellence' achieved throughout the world are discussed, together with the difficulties encountered in trying to match them or indeed maintain them. Future prospects regarding both the efforts made towards achieving international harmonization and the optimum use of this system of international performance indicators are examined, in order to achieve mutual enhancement through this approach to feedback of experience. Considering the overall performance indicators in use, it must be clearly recognized that, over the last ten years, the nuclear industry has made a tremendous effort to improve performance; the challenge for the future is to maintain a very high level of quality in the area of safety by keeping the operating costs (and investment costs for future plants) within a reasonable range

The value of ultrasonic techniques in nuclearplants is well established. However, in most cases nuclear power plants present an extremely hostile environment for an ultrasonic transducer. The paper presents a novel technique for introducing an ultrasound into hostile liquid environments using a new form of ultrasonic waveguide. Using this approach, a standard transducer arrangement is sited in a hospitable area and conveys the ultrasound along the guide to the required beam-emission collection position. The design of a single-mode ultrasonic waveguide is described. The ultrasound is conveyed along a stainless steel strip of rectangular cross-section. The transference of energy between the strip and the liquid is achieved through a highly efficient mode-conversion process. This process overcomes the usual problems of mis-match of acoustic impedances of stainless steel and liquids, and also produces a highly collimated beam of ultrasound. Tests of a 10-m-long waveguide using these techniques are described, achieving signal-to-noise ratios in the region of 40 dB. (author)

This report is the third in a series of reports issued annually that summarize the operating experience of U.S. nuclear power plants in commercial operation. Power generation statistics, plant outages, reportable occurrences, fuel element performance, occupational radiation exposure and radioactive effluents for each plant are presented. Summary highlights of these areas are discussed. The report includes 1976 data from 55 plants--23 boiling water reactor plants and 32 pressurized water reactor plants

For the assessment of the safety of nuclear power plants it is of great importance the analyses of severe accidents since they allow to estimate the possible failure models of the containment, and also permit knowing the magnitude and composition of the radioactive material that would be released to the environment in case of an accident upon population and the environment. This paper presents in general terms the basic principles for conducting the analysis of severe accidents, the fundamental sources in the generation of radionuclides and aerosols, the transportation and deposition processes, and also makes reference to de main codes used in the modulation of severe accidents. The final part of the paper contents information on how severe accidents are dialed with the regulatory point view in different countries

At the beginning of their development, the use of railroads, the streetcars, the subway, the automobile, the airplane, all raised not only a great skepticism, but also a strong fear or even hostility on the part of the general public, the media and some officials. Contrary to the development of other technologies, in the beginning there was even support and enthusiasm about the possibilities of the wide uses of nuclear energy. However, the voices against the use of nuclear power increased with time. Now the future of nuclear power is dependent on reversing this situation. The present paper addresses the role of nuclear power in the global energy sector in a broader context, that of sustainable social and economic development and the environmental impacts arising from the use of different sources of energy. The main objective of this paper is to provide clear and complete information and to demonstrate that nuclear power is a mature technology that has environmental advantages. The paper is destined to the energy community, energy policy and decision makers, environmentalists and the wider public in order to understand and accept the benefits of nuclear as a fundamental energy source toward sustainable development and a better standard of life. The decisive fact that nuclear power is environmentally benign, makes it an energy source consistent with the goals of sustainable development and environmental protection that should be taken into consideration in discussing the future energy mix in different countries. A special attention is accorded in the paper on the subject of radioactive waste management disposal where are provided top-level information, because this seems to be the warmest subject of the moment. (authors)

Presentation covers recommended safety issues for the Dukovany NPP which have been solved with satisfactory conclusions. Safety issues concerned include: radiation safety; nuclear safety; security; emergency preparedness; health protection at work; fire protection; environmental protection; chemical safety; technical safety. Quality assurance programs at all stages on NPP life time is described. Report includes description of NPP staff training provision, training simulator, emergency operating procedures, emergency preparedness, Year 2000 problem, inspections and life time management. Description of Dukovany Plant Safety Analysis Projects including integrity of the equipment, modernisation, equipment innovation and safety upgrading program show that this approach corresponds to the actual practice applied in EU countries, and fulfilment of current IAEA requirements for safety enhancement of the WWER 440/213 units in the course of MORAWA Equipment Upgrading program

Under the influence of the polarization between belief in progress, on the one hand, and the moral rigorism of our society, on the other hand, the risks of modern large technical systems have helped the highest level of technical safety to be attained in Germany. It has been reached especially by opting for maximum quality, maximum utility and reliability, complete documentation, continuous in-service checks during operation and, last but not least, by including man and human fallibility. Our concern should be that this strategy pursued in the Western industrialized countries becomes the rule, at least in its main characteristics, also in the Eastern countries. The hazards associated with reactors in Eastern countries affect us all, and it is especially the safety of those reactors which is causing concern. The experience accumulated with the 417 nuclear power plants now in operation, especially the incidents and accidents, shows that hazard potential management is admissible only with a highly developed safety strategy. (orig.) [de

Analyses of nuclear power plant annunciator systems have uncovered a variety of problems. Many of these problems stem from the fact that the underlying philosophy of annunciator systems have never been elucidated so as to impact the initial annunciator system design. This research determined that the basic philosophy of an annunciator system should be to minimize the potential for system and process deviations to develop into significant hazards. In order to do this the annunciator system should alert the operators to the fact that a system or process deviation exists, inform the operators as to the priority and nature of the deviation, guide the operators' initial responses to the deviation, and confirm whether operators responses corrected the deviation. Annunciator design features were analyzed to determine to what degree they helped the system meet the functional criteria, the priority for implementing specific design features, and the cost and ease of implementing specific design features

In a BWR type nuclear power plant in which reactor water in a reactor pressure vessel can be drained to a waste processing system by way of reactor recycling pipeways and remaining heat removal system pipeways, a pressurized air supply device is disposed for supplying air for pressurizing reactor water to the inside of the reactor pressure vessel by way of an upper head. With such a constitution, since the pressurized air sent from the pressurized air supply device above the reactor pressure vessel for the reactor water discharging pressure upon draining, the water draining pressure is increased compared with a conventional case and, accordingly, the amount of drained water is not reduced even in the latter half of draining. Accordingly, the draining efficiency can be improved and only a relatively short period of time is required till the completion of the draining, which can improve safety and save labors. (T.M.)

Described is a nuclear power plant installation which includes a concrete biological shield forming a pit in which a reactor pressure vessel is positioned. A steam generator on the outside of the shield is connected with the pressure vessel via coolant pipe lines which extend through the shield, the coolant circulation being provided by a coolant pump which is also on the outside of the shield. To protect these components on the outside of the shield and which are of mainly or substantially cylindrical shape, semicylindrical concrete segments are interfitted around them to form complete outer cylinders which are retained against outward separation radially from the components, by rings of high tensile steel which may be interspaced so closely that they provide, in effect, an outer steel cylinder. The invention is particularly applicable to pressurized-water coolant reactor installations

The purpose of the Nuclear Power Plant Modules, NPP-1, is to determine the total cost of electricity from a nuclear power plant in terms of all the components contributing to cost. The plan of analysis is in five parts: (1) general formulation of the cost equation; (2) capital cost and fixed charges thereon; (3) operational cost for labor,…

The thermodynamic efficiency of a standard Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is around 33%. Therefore, about two third of the heat generated by the nuclear fuel is literally wasted in the environment. Given the fact that the steam coming out from the high pressure turbine is superheated, it could be advantageously used for non electrical applications, particularly for district heating. Considering the technological improvements achieved these last years in heat piping insulation, it is now perfectly feasible to envisage heat transport over quite long distances, exceeding 200 km, with affordable losses. Therefore, it could be energetically wise to revise the modifications required on present reactors to perform heat extraction without impeding the NPP operation. In this paper, the case of a French reactor is studied showing that a large fraction of the wasted nuclear heat can be actually recovered and transported to be injected in the heat distribution network of a large city. Some technical and economical aspects of nuclear district heating application are also discussed. (author)

The purpose of planning for radiation emergency response is to ensure adequate preparedness for protection of the plant personnel and members of the public from significant radiation exposures in the unlikely event of an accident. With a number of safety features in the reactor design and sound operating procedures, the probability of a major accident resulting in the releases of large quantities of radioactivity is extremely small. However, as an abundant cautious approach a comprehensive radiation emergency response preparedness is in place in all the nuclear power plants (NPPs). Radiation Emergency in NPPs is broadly categorized into three types; plant emergency, site emergency and off-site emergency. During off site emergency conditions, based on levels of radiation in the environment, Civil Authorities may impose several counter measures such as sheltering, administering prophylaxis (stable iodine for thyroid blocking) and evacuation of people from the affected area. Environmental Survey Laboratory (ESL) carries out environmental survey extensively in the affected sector identified by the meteorological survey laboratory. To handle emergency situations, Emergency Control Centre with all communication facility and Emergency Equipment Centre having radiation measuring instruments and protective equipment are functional at all NPPs. AERB stipulates certain periodicity for conducting the exercises on plant, site and off site emergency. These exercises are conducted and deficiencies corrected for strengthening the emergency preparedness system. In the case of off site emergency exercise, observers are invited from AERB and Crisis Management Group of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). The emergency exercises conducted by Nuclear Power Plant Sites have been very satisfactory. (author)

The field of industrial simulation has experienced very significant progress in recent years, and power plant simulation in particular has been an extremely active area. Improvements may be recorded in practically all simulator subsystems. In Europe, the construction of new full- or optimized-scope nuclear power plant simulators during the middle 1990's has been remarkable intense. In fact, it is possible to identify a distinct simulator generation, which constitutes a new de facto simulation standard. Thomson Training and Simulation has taken part in these developments by designing, building, and validation several of these new simulators for Dutch, German and French nuclear power plants. Their characteristics are discussed in this paper. The following main trends may be identified: Process modeling is clearly evolving towards obtaining engineering-grade performance, even under the added constraints of real-time operation and a very wide range of operating conditions to be covered; Massive use of modern graphic user interfaces (GUI) ensures an unprecedented flexibility and user-friendliness for the Instructor Station; The massive use of GUIs also allows the development of Trainee Stations (TS), which significantly enhance the in-depth training value of the simulators; The development of powerful Software Development Environments (SDE) enables the simulator maintenance teams to keep abreast of modifications carried out in the reference plants; Finally, simulator maintenance and its compliance with simulator fidelity requirements are greatly enhanced by integrated Configuration Management Systems (CMS). In conclusion, the power plant simulation field has attained a strong level of maturity, which benefits its approximately forty years of service to the power generation industry. (author)

For safe, reliable and economical nuclear power generation it is of central importance to understand, analyze and manage aging-related phenomena and to apply this information in the systematic utilization and as-necessary extension of the service life of components and systems. An operator's overall approach to aging and plant life management which also improves performance characteristics can help to optimize plant operating economy. In view of the deregulation of the power generation industry with its increased competition, nuclear power plants must today also increasingly provide for or maintain a high level of plant availability and low power generating costs. This is a difficult challenge even for the newest, most modern plants, and as plants age they can only remain competitive if a plant operator adopts a strategic approach which takes into account the various aging-related effects on a plant-wide basis. The significance of aging and plant life management for nuclear power plants becomes apparent when looking at their age: By the year 2000 roughly fifty of the world's 434 commercial nuclear power plants will have been in operation for thirty years or more. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, as many as 110 plants will have reached the thirty-year service mark by the year 2005. In many countries human society does not push the construction of new nuclear power plants and presumably will not change mind within the next ten years. New construction licenses cannot be expected so that for economical and ecological reasons existing plants have to be operated unchallengeably. On the other hand the deregulation of the power production market is asking just now for analysis of plant life time to operate the plants at a high technical and economical level until new nuclear power plants can be licensed and constructed. (author)

Plant enterprise engineering environment (PEEE) is an approach aiming to manage the plant through its lifecycle. In such environment, safety is considered as the common objective for all activities throughout the plant lifecycle. One approach to achieve plant safety is to embed safety aspects within each function and activity within such environment. One ideal way to enable safety aspects within each automated function is through modeling. This paper proposes a theoretical approach to design plant safety model as integrated with the plant lifecycle model within such environment. Object-oriented modeling approach is used to construct the plant safety model using OO CASE tool on the basis of unified modeling language (UML). Multiple views are defined for plant objects to express static, dynamic, and functional semantics of these objects. Process safety aspects are mapped to each model element and inherited from design to operation stage, as it is naturally embedded within plant's objects. By developing and realizing the plant safety model, safer plant operation can be achieved and plant safety can be assured

The Application of computers to the design, engineering, manufacturing and construction works of nuclear power plants has greatly contributed to improvement of productivity and reliability in the nuclear power plants constructed by Mitsubishi Nuclear Group for more than ten years. However, in most cases, those systems have been developed separately and utilized independently in different computer software and hardware environments and have not been fully utilized to achieve high efficiency and reliability. In order to drastically increase the productivity and efficiency, development of NUclear power plant engineering Work and INtegrated manaGement System (NUWINGS) started in 1987 to unify and integrate various conventional and developing systems using the state-of-the-art computer technology. The NUWINGS is almost completed and is now applied to actual plant construction. (author)

It is rather impossible to establish nuclear power plants against the resistance of the population. To prevail over this resistance, a clarification of the citizens-initiatives motives which led to it will be necessary. This is to say: It is quite impossible for our population to understand what really heappens in nuclear power plants. They cannot identify themselves with nuclear power plants and thus feel very uncomfortable. As the total population feels the same way it is prepared for solidarity with the citizens-initiatives even if they believe in the necessity of nuclear power plants. Only an information-policy making transparent the social-psychological reasons of the population for being against nuclear power plants could be able to prevail over the resistance. More information about the technical procedures is not sufficient at all. (orig.) [de

Since in 2009 the CSN published the Safety Instruction IS-22 (1) which established the regulatory framework the Spanish nuclear power plants must meet in regard to Life Management, most of Spanish nuclearplants began a process of convergence of their Life Management Plants to practice 10 CFR 54 (2), which is the current standard of Spanish nuclear industry for Ageing Management, either during the design lifetime of the plant, as well as for Long-Term Operation. This article describe how Life Management Plans are being implemented in Spanish PWR NPP. (Author)

Work on the conceptual design of a pilot-scale plant for reprocessing breeder reactor fuels is being performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The plant design will meet all current federal regulations for repocessing plants and will serve as prototype for future production plants. A unique future of the concept is the incorporation of totally remote operation and maintenance of the process equipment within a large barn-like hot cell. This approach, caled Remotex, utilizes servomanipulators coupled with television viewing to extend man's capabilities into the hostile cell environment. The Remotex concept provides significant improvements for fuel reprocessing plants and other nuclear facilities in the areas of safeguarding nuclear materials, reducing radiation exposure, improving plant availability, recovering from unplanned events, and plant decommissioning

After an introduction about the simulators for nuclearplants, a description is given of the compact simulator for the Tihange nuclear power plant as well as the simulated circuits and equipments such as the primary and secondary coolant circuits. The extent of simulation, the functions used by the instructor, the use of the simulator, the formation programme and construction planning are described. (AF)

In the third quarter of 1993, all of Finland's four nuclear power plant units were in power operation, with the exception of the annual maintenance outages of the Loviisa units. The load factor average of the plant units was 83.6 %. None of the events which occurred during this annual quarter had any bearing on nuclear or radiation safety. (4 figs., 5 tabs.)

In the present work a description of major problems encountered in qualitative and quantitative radiological characterization of nuclearplants for decommissioning and decontamination purpose is presented. Referring to several nuclearplant classes activation and contamination processes, direct and indirect radiological analysis and some italian significant experience are descripted

A recalculation of the consequences of nuclear power plant accidents is presented taking into account different parameters or different quantities than those usually accepted. A case study of a nuclear power plant planned for the Eems-river estuary in the Netherlands is presented

The factors related to the licensing procedures of a nuclear power plant (quality assurance and safety analysis) are presented and discussed. The consequences of inadequate attitudes towards these factors are shown and suggestions to assure the safety of nuclear power plants in Brazil are presented. (E.G.) [pt

The report gives background information concerning radiation and the biological medical effects and damages caused by radiation. The report also discusses nuclear power plant accidents and efforts from the medical service in the case of a nuclear power plant accident. (L.F.)

HVDC transmission directly from nuclear power plant is considered as one of the patterns of long distance and large capacity transmission system. This reports considers two route HVDC transmission from PWR type nuclear power plant, and analyzes dynamic response characteristics due to bus fault, main protection failure and etc. using the AC-DC Power System Simulator. (author)

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is a non-profit research organization that supports the energy industry. The Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning Technology Program conducts research and develops technology for the safe and efficient decommissioning of nuclear power plants. (author)

A brief account of activities carried out by the Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant in 1998 is presented. These activities are reported under the headings: (1) Operation and electric power generation; (2) Nuclear and radiation safety; (3) Maintenance and scheduled refuelling out-gages; (4) Investment and WWER units upgrading; (5) Power Plants Personnel; (6) Public relations

The acceptability of nuclear fission as energy source is governed by three factors, economic, ecological and sociological. the economic context the gradual exhaustion of fossil fuels is a result of ever-increasing demands. The biological risk concept which determines the acceptable industrial application level is the second factor to be considered. The danger of radioactive contamination is almost unexistent except in the accident hypothesis, and power stations are built with excessive safeguards against hypothetical accidents. The idea of systematic processing of all working effluent to reduce radioactive waste discharge by several orders of magnitude is being examined. The only serious problems seem to be the disposal of radioactive wastes and the plutonium non-proliferation question bound up with breeder reactors. Whereas vitrification offers some solution to the radioactive waste conditioning problem, responsibility for the proliferation of nuclear weapons rests with the human conscience alone. The development of nuclear power stations over several decades seems to present no inacceptable danger and offers the best compromise betweengrowth and minimum risk requirements. The third factor to be accounted for is the opposition displayed by a fraction of the population to the development of nuclear energy for peaceful applications.

The acceptability of nuclear fission as energy source is governed by three factors, economic, ecological and sociological. It is necessary to account first for the economic context and for the state of natural resources: gradual exhaustion of fossil fuels as a result of ever-increasing demands. The biological risk concept which determines the acceptable industrial application level is the second factor to be considered. The danger of radioactive contamination is almost inexistent except in the accident hypothesis, and power stations are built with excessive safeguards against hypothetical accidents. The idea of systematic processing of all working effluent to reduce radioactive waste discharge by several orders of magnitude (zero release principle) is being examined. At present, the waste discharge levels are always well below the limits set by the CIPR and present no danger to the population. The only serious problems seem to be the disposal of radioactive wastes and the plutonium non-proliferation question bound up with breeder reactors. Whereas vitrification, the new 'Synroc' process, offer some solution to the radioactive waste conditioning problem, responsibility for the proliferation of nuclear weapons rests with the human conscience alone. The development of nuclear power stations over several decades seems to present no inacceptable danger and offers the best compromise between growth and minimum risk requirements. The third factor to be accounted for is the opposition displayed by a fraction of the population to the development of nuclear energy for peaceful applications [fr

A few quality assurance programs outside the purview of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were studied to identify features or practices which the NRC could use to enhance its program for assuring quality in the design and construction of nuclear power plants. The programs selected were: the manufacture of large commercial transport aircraft, regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration; US Navy shipbuilding; commercial shipbuilding regulated by the Maritime Administration and the US Coast Guard; Government-owned nuclearplants under the Department of Energy; spacecraft under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and the construction of nuclear power plants in Canada, West Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom

The Finnish nuclear power plant units Loviisa 1 and 2 as well as TVO I and II were in operation for almost all the time in the first quarter of 1992. The load factor average was 99.8%. All events which are classified on the International Nuclear Event Scale were level 0/below scale on the Scale. Occupational radiation doses and releases of radioactive material off-site remained well below authorised limits. Only quantities of radioactive material insignificant to radiation exposure, originating from the nuclear power plants, were detected in samples collected in the vicinity of the nuclear power plants

Discussing the disaster of March 2011 which had a destroying effect on the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, the article presents an overview of the impacts of the earthquake and tsunami on the nuclear power plants in the region, outlines the defence-in-depth concept, and describes the design of the affected BWR type reactors and the accident event sequences leading to the reactor core damage and radioactivity release into the environment. The proposed measures for enhancing nuclear reactor safety in the 21st century are highlighted. (orig.)

First of all, this study evaluated the impacts on the health and the environment of air pollutants emitted from coal power plant and nuclear power pant, two major electric power generating options in Korea. Then, the environmental external costs of those two options were estimated by transforming the health and environment impact into monetary values. To do this, AIRPACTS and Impacts of Atmospheric Release model developed by IAEA were used. The environmental external cost of Samcheonpo coal power plant was estimated about 25 times as much as that of Younggwang nuclear power plant. This result implies that nuclear power plant is a clean technology compared with coal power plant. This study suggests that the external cost should be reflected in the electric system expansion plan in order to allocate energy resources efficiently and to reduce economic impact stemming from the environmental regulation emerged recently on a global level

The radiation monitoring by means of the central information system and of autonomous, portable and laboratory devices as well as a brief characteristic of the nuclear power plant radiation fields are described. The new personal dosimetric film and thermoluminescent badges and the method (including the block diagram) for personal dose evaluation are also introduced. Internal contamination monitoring is performed by means of a whole-body counter and excreta sample analysis. Monitoring the influence of effluents from nuclear power plants on environment in Czechoslovakia is based on significant radionuclide measurements in ventilation stacks and in the environment, also by means of the telemetric system, all in connection with mathematical models. (author)

U.S.NRC determined an obligation to build a nuclear power plant emergency response organization for both on-site and off-site. Millstone Nuclear Power Plants have 3 nuclear reactors and 2 of 3 still in commercial operation. Reactor unit 1, BWR type has been permanently shut down in 1998, while the two others, units 2 and 3 obtain the extended operating license respectively until 2035 and 2045. As a nuclear installation has the high potential radiological impact, Millstone nuclear power plant emergency response organization must establish both on-site or off-site. Emergency response organization that is formed must involve several state agencies, both state agencies and municipality. They have specific duties and functions in a state of emergency, so that protective measures can be undertaken in accordance with the community that has been planned. Meanwhile, NRC conduct their own independent assessment of nuclear power plant emergencies. (author)

The specifications are given of cooling towers of foreign nuclear power plants and a comparison is made with specifications of cooling towers with natural draught in Czechoslovak nuclear power plants. Shortcomings are pointed out in the design of cooling towers of Czechoslovak nuclear power plants which have been derived from conventional power plant design. The main differences are in the adjustment of the towers for winter operation and in the designed spray intensity. The comparison of selected parameters is expressed graphically. (J.B.)

From the commencement of building to the time of decommissioning of nuclear power plants, the insurances provide continuous coverage, i.e. for construction, nuclear liability, nuclear energy hazards insurance, fire insurance, machinery insurance. The respective financial security is quantified. (DG) [de

The regulation applies to lifts, cranes, winches, rail trolleys, load pick-up equipment and fuel charging machines for LWR reactors, as far as these are employed in plants for the production or fission of nuclear fuels or for the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels or for the storage or other uses of nuclear fuels. (orig.) 891 HP [de

This paper presents the Q model which attempts to classify arguments for use in the discussion on the pros and cons of nuclear power. The basic principles of nuclear energy production, operation of a nuclear power plant and a comparison with other electric power sources are presented and discussed. (ELC)

Understanding time-dependent behaviors of nuclear reactors and the methods of their control is essential to the operation and safety of nuclear power plants. This book provides graduate students, researchers, and engineers in nuclear engineering comprehensive information on both the fundamental theory of nuclear reactor kinetics and control and the state-of-the-art practice in actual plants, as well as the idea of how to bridge the two. The first part focuses on understanding fundamental nuclear kinetics. It introduces delayed neutrons, fission chain reactions, point kinetics theory, reactivit

The causes and frequency of fires at nuclear power plants in various countries are briefly given. Methods are described of fire hazard assessment at nuclear power plants, such as Gretener's method and the probabilistic methods. Approaches to the management of nuclear reactor fire protection in various countries as well as the provisions to secure such protection are dealt with. An overview and the basic characteristics of fire detection and extinguishing systems is presented. (Z.S.). 1 tab

The guide presents specific requirements for the design and implementation of fire protection arrangements at nuclear power plants and for the documents relating to the fire protection that are to be submitted to STUK (Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority). Inspections of the fire protection arrangements to be conducted by STUK during the construction and operation of the power plants are also described in this guide. The guide can also be followed at other nuclear facilities

The nuclear industry is currently facing several challenges. An internal threat to the safety and operations of nuclear power plants is the loss of those employees who hold knowledge that is either critical to operations or safety. This report discusses the possibilities to preserve knowledge in nuclear power plants. Dependent on the degree of tacitness two different knowledge preservation strategies can be discerned: personalization and codification. The knowledge preservation activities discussed are valued according to the criteria: cost, immediacy of availability and completeness

The companies that own the Spanish Nuclear Power Plants, aware of social concern and in the context of a growing demanding environmental legislation, have a permanent commitment to the electricity production based on the principles of a maximum respect for the environment, safety, quality, professionalism and continuous improvement. In order to minimize the environmental impact of their plants they have implemented and Environmental Management System based on the ISO 14001 Standard. They minimize the environmental impact by identifying the significant environmental aspects and defining the corresponding objectives. This article describes the referred environmental management systems and their environmental objectives, as applied and defined by the Spanish Nuclear Power Plants. (Author)

Recently, the chemistry management in the nuclear power plants has been changing from the problem solution to the predictive diagnosis and maintenance. It is important to maintain the integrity of plant operation by an adequate chemistry control. For these reasons, many plant operation data and chemistry analysis data should be collected and treated effectively to evaluate chemistry condition of the nuclear power plants. When some indications of chemistry anomalies occur, quick and effective root cause evaluation and countermeasures should be required. The chemistry management system has been developed as to provide sophisticate chemistry management in the nuclear power plants. This paper introduces the concept and functions of the chemistry management system for the nuclear power plants. (author)

At the end of 1974, following general activity in planning the nuclear power plant, the need for an Environment Report (ER) for that plant came up. The ER should concentrate mainly on the quality of life, while the Licensing Division of the IAEC is the body that supervises all the aspects of the ''safety of life''. The conclusions about the ER role can be summarized thus: it should be based on the American format adjusted to Israeli conditions, a separation between Safety of life and Quality of life factors will be utilized. The ER should deal with safety subjects only at a minimal level, the ER will deal with several alternate sites, most of information would be based on existing knowledge. These four principles are further developed in the content of the ER. Chapters of the ER: need of power, need of nuclear energy, siting of the nuclearplant, site comparison - demography and land and water use, site comparison - physical and ecological conditions, selection of site to be recommended, the nuclearplant, environmental impacts of the nuclearplant, the nuclearplant in the framework of overall Master plant for development of Electrical power. (B.G.)

Estimated is the environmental impact of the developing nuclear power in the UK. The radiation levels of the population due to natural and artificial sources are considered. Among the natural sources singled out are the following ones: 238 U occuring in the surface layer of the earth-crust, 40 K which is the component of man muscles and which is the most important source of internal irradiation, and the cosmic radiation as well. Among the man-made radiation sources the dominant ones are X-ray diagnostics, nuclear tests and radioactive fall-out resulted from them. It is stated that nowdays the dose, caused by nuclear power industry in the UK, constitutes approximately 0.5 mrem/yr, which is considerably less than the dose variations due to residence change within the country or frequency of X-ray diagnostical examinations. The high level of the risk for the population in the NPS vicinity and for the personnel is estimated with the help of linear extrapolation of ''dose-response'' curve regarding the natural variations caused by residence variations and occupational hazard. According to the ICRP data, the risk of late effects is 10 -4 for man-rem. Considered are the existing and perspective management methods for NPS the high-level radioactive wastes in the UK as well as the equipment

Estimated is the environmental impact of the developing nuclear power in the UK. The radiation levels of the population due to natural and artificial sources are considered. Among the natural sources singled out are the following ones: /sup 238/U occuring in the surface layer of the earth-crust, /sup 40/K which is the component of man muscles and which is the most important source of internal irradiation, and the cosmic radiation as well. Among the man-made radiation sources the dominant ones are X-ray diagnostics, nuclear tests and radioactive fall-out resulted from them. It is stated that nowdays the dose, caused by nuclear power industry in the UK, constitutes approximately 0.5 mrem/y, which is considerably less than the dose variations due to residence change within the country or frequency of X-ray diagnostical examinations. The high level of the risk for the population in the NPS vicinity and for the personnel is estimated with the help of linear extrapolation of ''dose-response'' curve regarding the natural variations caused by residence variations and occupational hazard. According to the ICRP data, the risk of late effects is 10/sup -4/ for man-rem. Considered are the existing and perspective management methods for NPS the high-level radioactive wastes in the UK as well as the equipment.

This small booklet summarizes in tables all the numerical data relative to the nuclear power plants worldwide. These data come from the French CEA/DSE/SEE Elecnuc database. The following aspects are reviewed: 1999 highlights; main characteristics of the reactor types in operation, under construction or on order; map of the French nuclear power plants; worldwide status of nuclear power plants at the end of 1999; nuclear power plants in operation, under construction and on order; capacity of nuclear power plants in operation; net and gross capacity of nuclear power plants on the grid and in commercial operation; grid connection forecasts; world electric power market; electronuclear owners and share holders in EU, capacity and load factor; first power generation of nuclear origin per country, achieved or expected; performance indicator of PWR units in France; worldwide trend of the power generation indicator; 1999 gross load factor by operator; nuclear power plants in operation, under construction, on order, planned, cancelled, shutdown, and exported; planning of steam generators replacement; MOX fuel program for plutonium recycling. (J.S.)

This report describes some of the human factors problems in nuclear power plants and the technology that can be employed to reduce those problems. Many of the changes to improve the human factors in existing plants are inexpensive, and the expected gain in human reliability is substantial. The human factors technology is well-established and there are practitioners in most countries that have nuclear power plants. (orig.) [de

This report describes some of the human factors problems in nuclear power plants and the technology that can be employed to reduce those problems. Many of the changes to improve the human factors in existing plants are inexpensive, and the expected gain in human reliability is substantial. The human factors technology is well-established and there are practitioners in most countries that have nuclear power plants

To control the occupationally exposed personnel dose working at the Laguna Verde nuclear power plant, two types of dosemeters are used, the thermoluminescent (TLD) which is processed monthly, and the direct reading dosemeter that is electronic and works as daily control of personal dose. In the case of the electronic dosemeters of direct reading conventional, the readings and dose automatic registers and the user identity to which he was assigned to each dosemeter was to carry out the restricted area exit. In activities where the ionizing radiation sources are not fully characterized, it is necessary to relocate the personal dosemeter or assigned auxiliary dosemeters (TLDs and electronics) to determine the dose received by the user to both whole body and in any specific area of it. In jobs more complicated are used a tele dosimetry system where the radiation protection technician can be monitoring the user dose to remote control, the data transmission is by radio. The dosimetry activities are documented in procedures that include dosemeter inventories realization, the equipment and dosemeters calibration, the dosimetry quality control and the discrepancies investigation between the direct reading and TLD systems. TLD dosimetry to have technical expertise in direct and indirect dosimetry and two technicians in TLD dosimetry; electronic dosimetry to have 4 calibration technicians. For the electronic dosemeters are based on a calibrator source of Cesium-137. TLD dosemeters to have an automatic radiator, an automatic reader which can read up to 100 TLD dosemeters per hour and a semiautomatic reader. To keep the equipment under a quality process was development a process of initial entry into service and carried out a periodic verification of the heating cycles. It also has a maintenance contract for the equipment directly with the manufacturer to ensure their proper functioning. The vision in perspective of the dosimetry services of Laguna Verde nuclear power plant

The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) used every year to summarize a trend survey on the private nuclear power plants in the world in a shape of the 'Developmental trends on nuclear power plants in the world'. In this report, some data at the end of 1999 was made up on bases of answers on questionnaires from 72 electric companies in 31 nations and regions in the world by JAIF. This report is comprised of 19 items, and contains generating capacity of the plants; current status of Japan; trends of generating capacity of operating the plants, the plant orders and generating capacity of the plants; world nuclear capacity by reactor type; location of the plants; the plants in the world; and so forth. And, it also has some survey results on the 'Liberalization of electric power markets and nuclear power generation' such as some 70% of respondents in nuclear power for future option, gas-thermal power seen as power source with most to gain from liberalization, merits on nuclear power generation (environmental considerations and supply stability), most commonly voiced concern about new plant orders in poor economy, and so forth. (G.K.)

The electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from a high-altitude nuclear detonation consists of a transient pulse of high intensity electromagnetic fields. These intense fields induce current and voltage transients in electrical conductors. Although most nuclear power plant cables are not directly exposed to these fields, the attenuated EMP fields that propagate into the plant will couple some EMP energy to these cables. The report predicts the probable effects of the EMP transients that could be induced in critical circuits of safety-related systems. It was found that the most likely consequence of EMP for nuclearplants is an unscheduled shutdown. EMP could prolong the shutdown period by the unnecessary actuation of certain safety systems. In general, EMP could be a nuisance to nuclear power plants, but it is not considered a serious threat to plant safety

Finding a way to generate electricity so as to satisfy the terms of sustainable development of the entire society is the only way which will secure safe energy future. If we talk about energy in the context of sustainable development, one of the most important element is environmental protection. Since CO 2 emissions stemming from electricity generation have predominant impact on climate change, one of the options for reducing emissions is the use of fuels without carbon, such as e.g. nuclear fuel. The future of nuclear power plants was considered in view of: nuclear fuel supply; potential impact of fuel cycle on environment, power plant operation, decommissioning and secondary products from electricity generation; and the entire nuclear power plant economy. Nuclear power plants were also examined in the context of the Kyoto Protocol stipulating reduction of greenhouse gases emissions. Nuclear power plants can not reduce CO 2 emissions in a short-term because they already operate with maximum output, but in a long-run they can play a significant role. This paper is aiming to analyse the role of nuclear power plants in long term environmental sustainability in electricity sector reform (liberalisation, deregulation, privatisation) in small or medium sized power supply systems. Nuclear power plants are associated with certain environmental aspects which will be taken into account. A comparison will be made through externalities with other energy resources, especially fossil fuels, which are prevailing energy resources, considering possible use of nuclear power plants in the countries with small and medium-size grids. It will be given an example of the role of NPP Krsko on air emissions reduction in Croatia. (author)

The codes and regulations governing Nuclear Power Plant seismic analysis are continuously becoming more stringent. In addition, design ground accelerations of existing plants must sometimes be increased as a result of discovery of faulting zones or recording of recent earthquakes near the plant location after plant design. These new factors can result in augmented seismic design criteria. Seismic reanalysius of the existing Nuclear Power Plant structures and equipments is necessary to prevent the consequences of newly postulated accidents that could cause undue risk to the health or safety of the public. This paper reviews the developments of seismic analysis as applied to Nuclear Power Plants and the methods used by Westinghouse to requalify existing plants to the most recent safety requirements. (author)

Significant changes have occurred in recent years in the nuclear power industry to accentuate the need for data systems to support information flow and decision making. Economic conditions resulting in rapid inflation and larger investments in new and existing plants and the need to plan further ahead are primary factors. Government policies concerning environmental control, as well as minimizing risk to the public through increased nuclear safety regulations on operating plants are additional factors. The impact of computer technology on plant data systems, evolution of corporate and plant infrastructures, future plant data, system designs and benefits, and decision making capabilities and data usage support are discussed. (U.K.)

This paper describes the assessment of the work structure of ten nuclear power plants. Work structure factors are those factors that relate to the way in which work at all levels in a plant is organized, staffed, managed, rewarded, and perceived by plant personnel. Questionnaires given to a cross-section of personnel at the plants were the primary source of data collection. Structured ''critical incident'' interviews were conducted to verify the questionnaire results. The study revealed that a variety of work structure factor problem areas do exist in nuclear power plants. The paper highlights a prioritized set of candidate research themes to be considered in EPRI's Work Structure and Performance Research Program

This paper describes an integrated surveillance system for nuclear power plant application. The author explores an expanded role for closed circuit television, with remotely located cameras and infrared scanners as the basic elements. The video system, integrated with voice communication, can enhance the safe and efficient operation of the plant, by improving the operator's knowledge of plant conditions. 7 refs

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) has long been a key element of qualification for mission critical instrumentation and control (I ampersand C) systems used by the U.S. military. The potential for disruption of safety-related I ampersand C systems by electromagnetic interference (EMI), radio-frequency interference (RFI), or power surges is also an issue of concern for the nuclear industry. Experimental investigations of the potential vulnerability of advanced safety systems to EMI/RFI, coupled with studies of reported events at nuclear power plants (NPPs) that are attributed to EMI/RFI, confirm the safety significance of EMC for both analog and digital technology. As a result, Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been engaged in the development of the technical basis for guidance that addresses EMC for safety-related I ampersand C systems in NPPs. This research has involved the identification of engineering practices to minimize the potential impact of EMI/RFI and power surges and an evaluation of the ambient electromagnetic environment at NPPs to tailor those practices for use by the nuclear industry. Recommendations for EMC guidance have been derived from these research findings and are summarized in this paper

Tritium transport, as one of important items of radiation safety assessment, should be taken into consideration before construction of a Nuclear Desalination Plant (NDP). The influence of tritium internal exposition to the human body is very dangerous because of 3 H associations with water molecules. The problem of tritium in nuclear engineering is connected to its high penetration ability (through fuel element cans and other construction materials of a reactor), with the difficulty of extracting tritium from process liquids and gases. Sources of tritium generation in NDP are: nuclear fuel, boron in control rods, and deuterium in heat carrier. Tritium passes easily through the walls of a reactor vessel, intermediate heat exchangers, steam generators and other technological equipment, through the walls of heat carrier pipelines. The release of tritium and its transport could be assessed, using mathematical models, based on the assumption that steady state equilibrium has been attained between the sources of tritium, produced water and release to the environment. Analysis of the model shows the tritium concentration dependence in potable water on design features of NDP. The calculations obtained and analysis results for NDP with BN-350 reactor give good convergence. According to the available data, tritium concentration in potable water is less than the statutory maximum concentration limit. The design of a NDP requires elaboration of technical solutions, capable of minimising the release of tritium to potable water produced. (author)

The Nuclear Power Plant Containment Construction includes the spherical steel safety enclosure for the reactor and the equipment associated with the reactor and requiring this type of enclosure. This steel enclosure is externally structurally protected against accident by a concrete construction providing a foundation for the steel enclosure and having a cylindrical wall and a hemispherical dome, these parts being dimensioned to form an annular space surrounding the spherical steel enclosure, the latter and the concrete construction heretofore being concentrically arranged with respect to each other. In the disclosed construction the two parts are arranged with their vertical axis horizontally offset from each other so that opposite to the offsetting direction of the concrete construction a relatively large space is formed in the now asymmetrical annular space in which reactor auxiliary equipment not requiring enclosure by the steel containment vessel or safety enclosure, may be located outside of the steel containment vessel and inside of the concrete construction where it is structurally protected by the latter

The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) is the national authority for ensuring that the use of ionizing radiation and nuclear energy does not cause any undue risk to the health of workers, members of the public and to the environment. AERB is responsible for the stipulation and enforcement of rules and regulations pertaining to nuclear and radiological safety. This paper describes the regulatory process followed by AERB for ensuring the safety of nuclear power plants (NPPs) during their construction as well as operation. This regulatory process has been continuously evolving to cater to the new developments in reactor technology. Some of the recent initiatives taken by AERB in this direction are briefly described. Today, AERB faces new challenges like simultaneous review of a large number of new projects of diverse designs, a fast growing nuclear power program and functioning of operating plants in a competitive environment. This paper delineates how AERB is gearing up to meet these challenges in an effective manner. (author)

The goal is to develop test data and analytical capabilities to support the evaluation of: (1) the contribution of fires to the risk from nuclear power plants; (2) the effects of fires on control room equipment and operations; and (3) the effects of actuation of fire suppression systems on safety equipment. A range of fire sources will be characterized with respect to their energy and mass evolution, including smoke, corrosion products, and electrically conductive products of combustion. An analytical method for determining the environment resulting from fire will be developed. This method will account for the source characteristics, the suppression action following detection of the fire, and certain parameters specific to the plant enclosure in which the fire originates, such as the geometry of the enclosure and the ventilation rate. The developing local environment in the vicinity of safety-related equipment will be expressed in terms of temperatures, temperature rise rates, heat fluxes, and moisture and certain species content. The response of certain safe shutdown equipment and components to the environmental conditions will be studied. The objective will be to determine the limits of environmental conditions that a component may be exposed to without impairment of its ability to function

The Piraquara de Fora Bay receives the liquid effluents from the two Brazilian nuclear power plants (NPPs): Angra I that has been operating since 1985 and Angra II that started operating in 2000. The monitoring data set obtained by IRD/CNEN for marine samples over a period of 25 years (from 1985 to 2010) were statistically evaluated. Despite the high presence of non detect observations, suitable statistical tests were applied to compare 60 Co levels in sediments between two periods of time and from different sampling locations. The natural dose and the dose derived from the NPPs routine radioactive releases on the marine biota were assessed by the Erica tool. The highest value of dose rate due to the naturally occurrence radionuclides was estimated to be around 0.6 μGy h -1 for phytoplankton, mainly due to internal dose contribution of 238 U, while fishes received the highest dose (value around 0.4 μGy h -1 ) due to the radionuclide discharges of the NPPs. Accordingly, the dose rates to the studied species (fish, crustacean, macroalgae, zooplankton and phytoplankton) were clearly below the Erica screening level of 10 μGy h -1 , indicating no significant radiological impact of NPPs on these species. (author)

The paper deals with problems related to protection of the environment in areas occupied by nuclear power plants (NPP). NPP construction and operation result in destruction of ecological, geochemical and geological equilibria in and around NPP sites. This process requires monitoring. Recommendations of the International Agency for Atomic Energy (IAAE) suggest monitoring to commence 2-3 years prior to the start of NPP construction. The paper describes the extent of hydrosphere monitoring and guidelines along which monitoring is to be organized. The authors recommend a certain approach toward the planning observation networks and provide description of forecasting subsystem that consist of a data bank, a continuously operating model (COM) and a forecast unit

Measurement of nucleonic signals is required to control and operate the reactor in a safe and reliable manner. To achieve this, parameters like Neutron flux, other radiation fields, contamination levels, source strength, release thru stack etc. are required to be monitored and controlled. The above are required to be monitored throughout the life of the reactor whether it is operational or in shutdown condition. In addition such monitoring is also required during decommissioning phase of the reactor as needed. To measure these parameters a large number of instruments are used in Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) which includes sensors and electronics for detecting alpha, beta, gamma and neutron radiation with qualification to withstand harsh environment

The source terms input used as the basic data for designing the radwaste treatment systems of Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant [300 MW(e)] is presented. The classification of radioactive liquid wastes, off-gases and solid wastes, and their treatment techniques, as well as on-site storage facilities for solid wastes are described. For liquid waste, the method of filtration-evaporation-ion exchange will be used as the main treatment technique. For off-gas, Holdup-decay treatment will be used. For evaporator concentrates, indrumsolidification method with normal domestic portland cement will be used. The assessment of impact of effluents to environment at normal operation of the NPP is also made. The results show that it will be safe for inhabitants nearby during normal operation and it can meet the requirements of national standard ''Regulation of Radiation Protection''

A double containment shell is proposed for nuclear power plants, especially those equipped with pressurized water reactors. The shell offers increased environmental protection from primary circuit accidents. The inner shell is built of steel or concrete while the outer shell is always built of concrete. The space between the two shells is filled with water and is provided with several manholes and with stiffeners designed for compensation for load due to the water hydrostatic pressure. Water serves the airtight separation of the containment shell inside from the environment and the absorption of heat released in a primary circuit accident. In case the inner shell is made of concrete, it is provided with heat-removal tubes in-built in its walls ensuring rapid heat transfer from the inside of the containment to the water in the interwall space. (Z.M.)

It is the current status of QA and our QA experiences with nuclear power plants against the background of the Japanese social and business environment. Accordingly, in 1972, 'The Guidance for Quality Assurance in Construction of Nuclear Power Plants' based on U. S. 10CEF50 Appendix B, was published by the Japan Electric Association. 'Jug-4101 The Guide for Quality Assurance of Nuclear Power Plants' has been prepared by referring to the IAEA QA code. The Guide has been accepted by the Japanese nuclear industry and applied to the QA programs of every organization concerned therewith. The Japanese approach to higher quality will naturally be different from that of other countries because of Japan's cultural, social, and economic conditions. Even higher quality is being aimed at through the LWR Improvement and Standardization Program and coordinated quality assurance efforts

Regarding the future of the nuclear power option, many scenarios have been put forth over the years. The most commonly accepted projections for installed nuclear capacity show it growing at a rate of about 2% per year throughout the next few decades. These projections appear modes on the surface. However, underlying the projections are critical assumptions and sometimes misconceptions about the lifetimes of existing reactors and how they are determined. The notion of a 40 year plant life is very common. Consequently, many projections start either with the assumption that no plants will be retired in the near terms or with the assumption that each retired plant will be replaced by another nuclearplant after 40 years. Effectively, these assumptions yield future projections for installed capacity that might be characterized as low growth, medium growth and high growth scenarios - or grow, grow, grow. The question remains as to whether or not these assumptions accurately model the driving forces and constraints to nuclear development. After all, there is no scientific basis for believing that all plants, PWRs BWRs, RBMKs, etc., should have the same 40 year life. Most power plant owners purchase the plant for the main reason of supplying electrical power to their consumer. For these owners, electricity production is a day to day commercial activity with various alternatives on how to achieve the prime objective. The decision of which electricity generation alternative to select (gas, coal, nuclear or renewable energy) and how long to operate the plant before replacing it with a new one is essentially a business decision. The paper discusses ageing, the nuclearplant life decision process, the factors which influence the decision and their ramifications regarding the near term growth of nuclear power capacity. The modelling of nuclearplant lifetimes is also discussed. (author). 5 refs, 10 figs, 1 tab

The measurement of the emission and immission of radionuclides from nuclear power stations has already been established with the inception of the peaceful uses of atomic energy. Since then it has been a firm feature of the monitoring of effects of nuclear power plants on the environment. The considerations and procedures on which the measurement programs are based are described. The ecological behaviour of radionuclides is illustrated with the aid of examples.

Starting with a comprehensive safety strategy as evolved over the past years and the present legal provisions for the construction and operation of nuclear power plants, the risk of the intended operation, of accidents and unforeseen events is discussed. Owing to the excellent safety record of nuclear power plants, main emphasis in discussing accidents is given to the precautionary analysis within the framework of the licensing procedure. In this context, hypothetical accidents are mentioned only as having been utilized for general risk comparisons. The development of a comprehensive risk concept for a completely objective safety assessment of nuclear power plants remains as a final goal. (orig.) [de

The main advantage of the fuzzy logic control is that the method does not require a detailed mathematical model of the object to be controlled. In this paper, the shortcomings and limitations of the model-based method in nuclear power plant control were presented, the theory of the fuzzy logic control was briefly introduced, and the applications of the fuzzy logic control technology in nuclear power plant controls were surveyed. Finally, the problems to be solved by using the fuzzy logic control in nuclear power plants were discussed

Maintenance planning for nuclear power plants is similar to that in other industrial plants but it is heavily influenced by regulatory rules, with consequent costs of compliance. Steps by the nuclear industry and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to address that problem include development of guidelines for maintenance of risk-critical equipment, using PRA-based techniques to select a set of equipment that requires maintenance and reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) approaches for determining what maintenance is required. The result of the process is a program designed to ensure effective maintenance of the equipment most critical to plant safety. (author)

The current state of world power production and consumption is assessed. Prognoses made for the years 1980 to 2000 show that nuclear energy should replace the major part of fossil fuels not only in the production of power but also in the production of heat. In this respect high-temperature reactors are highly prospective. The question is discussed of the technical and economic parameters of dual-purpose heat and power plants. It is, however, necessary to solve problems arising from the safe siting of nuclear heat and power plants and their environmental impacts. The economic benefits of combined power and heat production by such nuclearplants is evident.

The concept of safety evalution is based on safety criteria -standards or set qualitative values of parameters and indices used in designing nuclear power plants, incorporating demands on the quality of equipment and operation of the plant, its siting and technical means for achieving nuclear safety. The concepts are presented of basic and optimal risk values. Factors are summed up indispensable for the evaluation of the nuclear power plant risk and the present world trend of evaluation based on probability is discussed. (J.C.)

This list published once a year presents, subdivided into countries, data on all nuclear power plants in operation, under construction, or for which a contract has been placed, referring to the following aspects: Year the contract has been placed, name and/or size, owner or operator, design type, manufacturers, net output, first year of commercial operation, and total electricity output up to the data June 30, 1984. Two additional tables present a survey on the world's nuclear power plants, also grouped by countries, and the largest commercially used nuclear power plants of the world. (UA) [de

The present Safety Assessment Principles result from the revision of those which were drawn up following a recommendation arising from the Sizewell-B enquiry. The principles presented here relate only to nuclear safety; there is a section on risks from normal operation and accident conditions and the standards against which those risks are assessed. A major part of the document deals with the principles that cover the design of nuclearplants. The revised Safety assessment principles are aimed primarily at the safety assessment of new nuclearplants but they will also be used in assessing existing plants. (UK)

The Exxon Nuclear low-enriched uranium fuel fabrication plant in Richland, Washington produces fuel assemblies for both pressurized water and boiling water reactors. The Richland plant was the first US bulk-handling facility selected by the IAEA for inspection under the US-IAEA Safeguards Agreement. The plant was under IAEA inspection from March 1981 through October 1983. This text provides a written description of the plant layout, operation and process. The text also includes a one ton-a-day model (or reference) plant which was adapted from the Exxon Nuclearplant. The Model Plant provides a generic example of a low-enriched uranium (LEU) bulk-handling facility. The Model Plant is used to illustrate in a more quantitative way some of the key safeguards requirements for a bulk-handling facility

The role and purpose of safety principles for nuclear power plants are discussed. A brief information is presented on safety objectives as given in the INSAG documents. The possible linkage is discussed between the two mentioned elements of nuclear safety and safety culture. Safety culture is a rather new concept and there is more than one interpretation of the definition given by INSAG. The defence in depth is defined by INSAG as a fundamental principle of safety technology of nuclear power. Discussed is the overall strategy for safety measures, and features of nuclear power plants provided by the defence-in-depth concept. (Z.S.) 7 refs

Nuclear power plays an important role in the world, European (33%) and French (75%) power generation. This article aims at presenting in a synthetic way the main reactor types with their respective advantages with respect to the objectives foreseen (power generation, resources valorization, waste management). It makes a fast review of 50 years of nuclear development, thanks to which the nuclear industry has become one of the safest and less environmentally harmful industry which allows to produce low cost electricity: 1 - simplified description of a nuclear power generation plant: nuclear reactor, heat transfer system, power generation system, interface with the power distribution grid; 2 - first historical developments of nuclear power; 3 - industrial development and experience feedback (1965-1995): water reactors (PWR, BWR, Candu), RBMK, fast neutron reactors, high temperature demonstration reactors, costs of industrial reactors; 4 - service life of nuclear power plants and replacement: technical, regulatory and economical lifetime, problems linked with the replacement; 5 - conclusion. (J.S.)

Because of developments in the fields of earthquake and structural engineering over the last two decades, the codes, standards and design criteria for Nuclear Power Plants and other critical structures have changed substantially. As a result, plants designed only a few years ago do not satisfy the requirements for new plants. Accordingly, the Regulatory Agencies are requiring owners of older Nuclear Power Plants to re-qualify the plants seismically, using codes, standards, analytical techniques and knowledge developed in recent years. Seismic review consists of three major phases: establishing the design and performance criteria, re-qualifying the structures, and re-qualifying the equipment. The authors of the paper have been recently involved in the seismic review of existing nuclear power plants in the United States. This paper is a brief summary of their experiences

During the past decade, the rising cost of nuclear power plant construction has caused the cancellation of many projects and has forced some utilities into bankruptcy. Many factors have contributed to capital cost increases, including regulatory changes, the absence of standard designs, and low worker productivity. Low worker productivity can be attributed to the conventional building process, which is not conductive to productive labor. This study presents innovative ways to reduce the capital cost of nuclearplants through more efficient construction processes designed to increase worker productivity. A major portion of the plant capital cost is the interest paid during construction on borrowed capital. Modular fabrication could potentially reduce interest payments by compressing the construction schedule of nuclear facilities. Additional cost savings expected from modular designs arise from improved quality, productivity, and schedule control in fabrication of plant elements within a factory environment

In a BWR type nuclear power plant, water quality of coolants is controlled so as to lower deposition rate of Co ions in reactor water on a fuel cladding tube. The water quality control method includes (1) decreasing an iron concentration in feedwater to less than 0.1ppb, (2) adjusting coolants weakly acidic and (3) controlling dissolved oxygen concentration in reactor water to 20ppb. This can decrease 60 Co ion concentration even if 60 Co ion concentration is increased by the change of environment for the operation in future, such as an operation with hydrogen injection and extention of fuel burnup degree. (T.M.)

A comparison is given of ecological damage for the nuclear power plant in Mochovce and a conventional power plant with the same power. Ecological effects and damage are divided into three groups: comparable damage, ecological damage caused only by conventional power plants and ecological damage caused only by nuclear power plants. In the first group the factors compared are land requisition, consumption of utility water and air consumption. In the second group are enumerated losses of crops (cereals, sugar beet, potatoes, oleaginous plants) and losses caused by increased disease rate owing to polluted environment by conventional power plants. In the third group health hazards are assessed linked with ionizing radiation. Also considered are vent stack escapes. (E.S.)

This paper is concerned with the requirements of teleoperated grippers for work in hazardous situations and nuclearenvironments. A survey among users in the nuclear industry was performed by means of questionnaires of the present grippers in use and the future gripper needs. The survey covers reliability, tasks to be done, object properties, accuracy, environmental requirements, required grasps, mechanical and sensorial requirements. The paper will present the proposal for a future gripper. (author)

During the second quarter of 1990 the Finnish nuclearplant units Loviisa 1 and 2 and TVO and II were in commercial operation for most of the time. The feedwater pipe rupture at Loviisa 1 and the resulting inspections and repairs at both Loviisa plant units brought about an outage the overall duration of which was 32 days. The annual maintenance outages of the TVO plant units were arranged during the report period and their combined duration was 31.5 days. Nuclear electricity accounted for 35.3% of the total Finnish electricity production during this quarter. The load factor average of the nuclear power plant units was 83.0%. Three events occurred during the report period which are classified as Level 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale: feedwater pipe rupture at Loviisa 1, control rod withdrawal at TVO I in a test during an outage when the hydraulic scram system was rendered inoperable and erroneous fuel bundle transfers during control rod drives maintenance at TVO II. Other events during this quarter are classified as Level Zero (Below Scale) on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Occupational radiation doses and external releases of radioactivity were considerably below authorised limits. Only small amounts of nuclides originating in nuclear power plants were detected in samples taken in the vicinity of nuclear power plants

At the turn of 2009/2010, nuclear power plants were available for energy supply in 30 countries of the world. A total of 437 nuclear power plants, which is one plant less than at the 2008/2009 turn, were in operation with an aggregate gross power of approx. 391 GWe and an aggregate net power, respectively, of 371 GWe. The available gross power of nuclear power plants did not changed noticeably from 2008 to the end of 2009. In total 2 nuclear generating units were commissioned in 2009. One NPP started operation in India and one in Japan. Three nuclear generating units in Japan (2) und Lithuania (1) were decomissioned in 2009. 52 nuclear generating units, i.e. 10 plants more than at the end of 2008, with an aggregate gross power of approx. 51 GWe, were under construction in 14 countries end of 2009. New or continued projects are notified from (number of new projects): China (+9), Russia (1), and South Korea (1). Some 84 new nuclear power plants are in the concrete project design, planning and licensing phases worldwide; on some of them, contracts have already been awarded. Another units are in their preliminary project phases. (orig.)

At the turn of 2008/2009, nuclear power plants were available for energy supply in 31 countries of the world. A total of 438 nuclear power plants, which is one plant less than at the 2007/2008 turn, were in operation with an aggregate gross power of approx. 393 GWe and an aggregate net power, respectively, of 372 GWe. The available gross power of nuclear power plants didn't changed noticeabely from 2007 to the end of 2008. No nuclear generating unit was commissioned in 2008. One nuclear generating unit in the Slovak Republic was decomissioned in 2008. 42 nuclear generating units, i.e. 10 plants more than at the end of 2007, with an aggregate gross power of approx. 38 GWe, were under construction in 14 countries end of 2008. New or continued projects are notified from (in brackets: number of new projects): Bulgaria (2), China (5), South Korea (2), Russia (1), and the Slovak Republic (2). Some 80 new nuclear power plants are in the concrete project design, planning and licensing phases worldwide; on some of them, contracts have already been awarded. Another approximately 120 units are in their preliminary project phases. (orig.)

Social and economic demands have been pressing for automation of inspection tasks, maintenance and repair jobs of nuclear power plants, which are carried out by human workers under circumstances with high radiation level. Since the plants are not always designed for introduction of automatic machinery, sophisticated robots shall play a crucial role to free workers from hostile environments. We have been studying intelligent robot systems and regarded nuclear industries as one of the important application fields where we can validate the feasibility of the methods and systems we have developed. In this paper we firstly discuss on the tasks required in nuclear power plants. Secondly we introduce current status of R and D on special purpose robots, versatile robots and intelligent robots for automatizing the tasks. Then we focus our discussions on three major functions in realizing robotized assembly tasks under such unstructured environments as in nuclear power plants; planning, vision and manipulation. Finally we depict an image of a prototype robot system for nuclear power plants based on the advanced functions. (author) 64 refs

Defence in depth is a comprehensive approach to safety that has been developed by nuclear power experts to ensure with high confidence that the public and the environment are protected from any hazards posed by the use of nuclear power for the generation of electricity. The concepts of defence in depth and safety culture have served the nuclear power industry well as a basic philosophy for the safe design and operation of nuclear power plants. Properly applied, defence in depth ensures that no single human error or equipment failure at one level of defence, nor even a combination of failures at more than one level of defence, propagates to jeopardize defence in depth at the subsequent level or leads to harm to the public or the environment. The importance of the concept of defence in depth is underlined in IAEA Safety Standards, in particular in the requirements set forth in the Safety Standards: Safety of Nuclear Power Plants: Design (NS-R-1) and Safety Assessment and Verification for Nuclear Power Plants (NS-G-1.2). A specific report, Defence in Depth in Nuclear Safety (INSAG-10), describes the objectives, strategy, implementation and future development in the area of defence in depth in nuclear and radiation safety. In the report Basic Safety Principles for Nuclear Power Plants (INSAG-12), defence in depth is recognized as one of the fundamental safety principles that underlie the safety of nuclear power plants. In consonance with those high level publications, this Safety Report provides more specific technical information on the implementation of this concept in the siting, design, construction and operation of nuclear power plants. It describes a method for comprehensive and balanced review of the provisions required for implementing defence in depth in existing plants. This publication is intended to provide guidance primarily for the self-assessment by plant operators of the comprehensiveness and quality of defence in depth provisions. It can be used

Over the past few decades, energy has been the subject of much debate. Energy is the backbone of technology and economic development. Today, most machines run on electricity and they are needed to make anything and everything. Hence, our energy requirements have spiraled in the years following the industrial revolution. This rapid increase in use of energy has created problems of demand and supply in addition to the environmental consciousness which picked momentum in last decades of 20 th century. The impending crisis the world over due to overuse of nonrenewable energy sources to reduce this gap shall soon lead to a situation for all concerned to take a prudent decision to tap other sources of energy, including relatively new renewable sources. Future economic growth crucially depends on the long-term availability of energy from sources that are affordable, accessible and environmentally friendly. The drive for more energy has had the happy consequences of spawning new technologies and improving earlier ones. Emphasis on renewable sources has resulted in viable harnessing of solar, wind and tidal energies. Even though these sources offer relatively clean energy, their potential to supply reliable energy in large scale in an economically viable way is limited. Nuclear energy offers a major source of commercial energy, which is economic, reliable and environmentally benign

The Finnish nuclear power plant units Loviisa 1 and 2 as well as TVO 1 and II were in operation for almost the whole second quarter of 1991. The load factor average was 87.4 %. In consequence of a fire, which broke out in the switchgear building, connections to both external grids were lost and TVO II relied on power supplied by four back-up diesels for 7.5 hrs. The event is classified as Level 2 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The process of examining the non-leaking fuel bundles removed from the Loviisa nuclear reactors has continued. The examinations have revealed, so far, that the uppermost spacing lattices of the bundles exhibit deformations similar to those detected in the leaking fuel bundles removed from the reactors. This event is classified as Level 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Other events in this quarter which are classified according to the International Nuclear Event Scale are Level Zero (Below Scale) on the Scale. The Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety has assessed the safety of the Loviisa and Olkiluoto nuclear power plants based on the new regulations issued on 14.2.1991 by the Council of State. The safety regulations are much more stringent than those in force when the Loviisa and Olkiluoto nuclear power plants were built. The assessment indicated that the TVO nuclear power plant meets these safety regulations. The Loviisa nuclear power plant meets the requirements with the exception of certain requirements related to the ensuring of safety functions and provision for accidents. At the Loviisa nuclear power plant there are several projects under consideration to enhance safety

This report describes radioactive effluents from commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the United States. This information was reported by the licensees for radioactive discharges that occurred in 2007. The report provides information relevant to the potential impact of NPPs on the environment and on public health.

This report describes radioactive effluents from commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the United States. This information was reported by the licensees for radioactive discharges that occurred in 2008. The report provides information relevant to the potential impact of NPPs on the environment and on public health.

A small-to-medium sized reactor has been developed for multi-purposes such as seawater desalination, ship propulsion, and district heating since early 1990s in Korea. Now, the construction of its scaled-down research reactor, equipped with a seawater desalination plant, is planned to demonstrate the safety and performance of the design of the multi-purpose reactor. And the licensing application of the research reactor is expected in the near future. Therefore, a development of regulatory requirements/guides for a desalination plant coupled with a nuclear reactor plant is necessary for the preparation of the forthcoming licensing review of the research reactor. In this paper, the following contents are presented: the design of the desalination plant, domestic and foreign regulatory requirements relevant to desalination plants, and a draft of regulatory requirements/guides for a desalination plant coupled with a nuclear reactor plant

Nuclear power plants consist of many systems and are operated by skillful operators with plenty of knowledge and experience of nuclearplants. Recently, plant automation or computerized operator support systems have come to be utilized, but the synthetic judgment of plant operation and management remains as human roles. Toshiba is of the opinion that the activities (planning, operation and maintenance) should be integrated, and man-machine interface should be human-friendly. We have begun to develop the intelligent operation system aiming at reducing the operator's role within the fundamental judgment through the use of artificial intelligence. (author)

Nuclear power is accepted as a reality in this description of the nature of radioactivity, its presence in the operation of a nuclear reactor, how and why some of the radioactivity is introduced into the environment in a controlled manner, and how these processes should be judged. The didactic approach makes the account an informative one rather than argumentative. The basic properties of radioactivity and its interaction with matter are described in the first chapter. Subsequent chapters deal with the radiation background, radiation and man, nuclear reactors and their fuel cycles, radioactive wastes and the public, environmental behavior and effects, and the acceptability of future discharges. 10 references, 41 figures, 57 tables. (DCK)

The paper describes the author's view on the environmental problems and nuclear power. The world demand for energy has increased rapidly due to the increase of population and the overall rise in living standards, resulting in many signs that the world is experiencing a growing shortage of energy and continuing need for flexible planning and the search for new sources. Fossil fuels are polluting the atmosphere, leading to climate change, acid rain and global warming. This has led many countries to look again at nuclear power. For the widespread opposition to nuclear power, the author lists up the fear of nuclear weapons, the fear of nuclear radiations including reprocessing plants as well as natural radioactivity and cosmic rays, the fear about the safety of nuclear reactors, and production of large amount of radioactive wastes. The author compares various energy sources, and insists that there is a strong reluctance to face the truth, as Governments knowing that nuclear power is politically so unpopular would not advocate the construction of new nuclear stations. (S. Ohno)

The role and the general characteristics of steam generators in nuclear power plants are indicated, and particular types are described according to the coolant nature (carbon dioxide, helium, light water, heavy water, sodium) [fr

Fiber optic technology possesses many desirable attributes for applications in commercial nuclear power plants. The non-electrical nature of fiber optics is an important factor in an industry governed by federal safety regulations such as Class 1E isolation and separation criteria. Immunity from Electromagnetic Interference (EMI), an increasing industry problem area, is another significant characteristic. Because of the extremely wide bandwidth offered, fiber optics better addresses the data acquistion and communication requirements of the complex processes of a nuclear power plant. Potential for fiber optic sensor applications exists within the nuclear industry because their small size and physical flexibility allows access into normally inaccessible areas. They possess high accuracy and allow environmentally sensitive electronics to be remotely located. The purpose of this paper is to explore current applications for fiber optic technology in modern nuclearplants, document examples of present day usage in C-E plants and suggest possible future application areas

The article discusses the radiation exposure due to nuclear power stations in normal operation and after reactor incidents. Also mentioned is the radiation exposure to the emissions from fuel reprocessing plants and radioactive waste facilities. (RW/AK) [de

The release of fossil fuel greenhouse gases and the depletion of cheap oil reserves outside the Persic Gulf suggest a promising scenario for the future of nuclear power. But the end of the Cold War, the crisis of the state, axiological questions and globalization may lead to a marked for small power plants. The purpose of this paper is to analyze these factors, since they are not always considered all together in the future scenarios for nuclear power. It is concluded that the current evolutionary trend of nuclear power projects toward big plants may become one of the main barriers for the introduction of new plants in the future. It is suggested that a combination of fission reactors with technologies unavailable in the 1950's, when the design characteristics of the current nuclear power plants were established, could be considered to overcome this barrier. (author)

Vital area analysis of nuclear power plants has been performed for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the Los Alamos National Laboratory from the late 1970's through the present. The Los Alamos Vital Area Study uses a fault-tree modeling technique to identify vital areas and equipment at nuclear power plants to determine their vulnerability. This technique has been applied to all operating plants and approximately one-half of those under construction in the US. All saboteur-induced loss-of-coolant accidents and transients and the systems needed to mitigate them are considered. As a result of this effort, security programs at nuclear power plants now include vulnerability studies that identify targets in a systematic manner, and thus unnecessary protection has been minimized. 1 ref., 8 figs., 1 tab

This Standard contains the requirements for the quality assurance program applicable to the design phase of a nuclearplant, and is applicable to the design of safety-related equipment, systems, and structures, as identified by the owner. 1 fig

The concept of maintaining radiation exposures as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) is outlined in connection with nuclear power plant operations. The basis of the concept is reviewed and a specific example of ALARA action is presented. (author)

This Standard contains the requirements for the quality assurance program applicable to the design phase of a nuclearplant, and is applicable to the design of safety-related equipment, systems, and structures, as identified by the owner. 1 fig.

The world population increase, the acceleration of global requirement for development and the need to expand energy production, have led to the depletion of natural resources. The international efforts are increasing to get clean, safe and economical energy sources . The electricity generated from nuclear energy considers less polluting and high economic competitiveness as well as reliability and efficiency. The nuclear power plants projects face significant challenges, especially after two major accidents, in Chernobyl 1986 and Fukushima 2011 including the fears of radiation effects, nuclear waste management and nuclear proliferation issues, as well as the lack of public acceptance. So those bodies interested in operating nuclear power plants work to increase nuclear safety standards, review the nuclear facilities safety, know the strict application of laws, seek to prove the economic competitiveness, maintain environmental security, assist in the nonproliferation regime and gain public acceptance. This article discusses the most important environmental and security challenges of nuclear power plants. It highlights the importance of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy as a source of sustainable development and environmental security. It also offers a number of recommendations to support the Arab countries trend towards the inclusion of nuclear energy option within their national programs to generate electricity. (author)